Time is of the Essence
by Joban
Summary: The BAU team is working on a case of murders, when Reid is kidnapped. They are told they have a limited time to save him, so they have to race against the clock.
1. Prologue

**Hey ya'll it's me the author, I wrote this for fun, and it's my VERY FIRST fanfic. But anyway I don't own Criminal Minds, or their characters. I just own mine that I made up :P Well anyway, ENJOY, and please review, all comments are welcome, I need to see what I gotta work on **

Prologue

The cold air was coming through the car's cracked window. It was mid November, in Minnesota, but there was already frost on the ground. A steady rain had started about a half hour

ago, making the car an unplesant place to be, but he had to wait. He had to make sure that the police had heard about the horrifying serial killer. Ryan Gray started to walk to the police building, so he pulled his jacket close

to his body, and exited his car. The street's beginning to ice over, they're going have to put some salt down soon, he thought to himslef as he made his way across the street. As Ryan reached the door, some men, they

appeared to be FBI walked toward the building. Ryan held the door for them, and got a few monotone thank you's in return. Ryan smiled and nodded to acknowledge their superiority."UGH!"Ryan turned arround in time to

see the last FBI agent fumbling with the car keys to open the trunk. Ryan smiled at the man's frustration, and approached him. "Hi, my name is Ryan Gray, do you need any help?" The younger man, frowned with confusion

for a second, then mumbled, "I'm Dr. Spencer Reid, Yeah, I guess I could use a hand." Reid didn't like being cold and soaked with rain water, hince the tone he answered in. Reid handed Ryan a box from the trunk, and

reached in to get the other. Ryan was ready for action though, he placed his box on the ground, and kicked Reid right in the back of the knee, bringing Reid to the wet concrete ground. Reid yelped with surprise, and the felt

a cold hand on his neck, then heard a voice say "You'd better hope your team comes to find you fast." Reid's breathing picked, when he heard those words come from this man's mouth. Just then, Ryan whipped Reid around

and slamed his head onto the concrete, and darkness took over him. Seconds later there was a loud peel out of tires and Ryan Gray was gone."Let the fun begin."


	2. Chapter 1

**YAY! Thank you to KASEY64, you were my very first reviwer, and im glad that you took intrest in my story. Ok, anyway I just gotta say that I did lots of research for this story, so a lot of the details, like for example the butter sculpture thing Reid talked about is true. Yeah, i threw some random things in there :P Oh, and sorry it's not too long.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Criminal Minds or any of their charatcers.**

Chapter 1

_6 Hours Eariler_

The flight to Minnesota was long, and dull. Morgan and played cards with Reid who'd just won for the fifth time in a row. JJ was sleeping, while listening to her i-pod. Hotch and Prentiss were talking about the case, and the possible connections between the victims.

"Reid I swear you cheat!" Morgan shouted with anger.

"Morgan I already told you that poker is filled with mathematics equations, that I have the ability to process faster than you." Reid replied.

"So I'm dumb now?" Morgan asked frowning at Reid. Secretely joking, hoping Reid was going to fall for it.

"What? No, Morgan I never said you were dumb. I just stated that in the game of poker many math equations are come up quickly, and weather you catch them in time is up to which hemisphere of the brain you think with. Generally left brain thinkers have the advantage in solving mathematics equations with more ease and efficiency."

"Reid you take the fun out of jokes."

Reid frowned at Morgan's comment.

"Actually a joke is is a short story or depiction of a situation communicated with the intent of being humorus. Jokes have rules, they must be timed have, precision, synthesis, and rhythm. So a person can't literally take 'the fun' out of a joke, if the humor was misunderstood."

"Reid I have no comment to what you just said," stated Morgan. He really had no idea what Reid had just said.

"We will be landing in about twenty minutes, so don't kill eachother yet," Prentiss said to both Morgan and Reid. Hotch smiled to himself when he heard Reid babble on about the definition of a joke, and Morgan's inability to understand a thing Reid had just stated. Though most of the time Reid was talking or thinking to fast for anyone, but himself, to understand.

Once the plane landed it began to rain, so they all quickly made their way to the SUV's that were waiting for them. Hotch took the driver's seat, with Reid behind him. Morgan sat on the passenger side next to Hotch. JJ and Prentiss took the other SUV.

It was quiet for about ten minutes, except for the sound of a page about every five seconds, Reid had started Great Expectations, by Charles Dickins that morning, and was already more than half way through with it.

"Hotch what's with Minnesota people and butter?" Morgan asked looking out the passenger window, seeing a man making a butter sculpture.

"His way of life maybe?" Hotch relpied not really sure.

"Well actually the art of butter sculpting started in North America in the ninenteenth century at state fairs. The first North American butter sculpture recorded was in 1876, by Carolyn Brooks. Butter is also favored by some to sculpt with because of its easy molding ability." Reid answered.

"There's your answer Morgan," Hotch said with a smile on his face. That had to be one of the most random facts he'd ever heard Reid memorize. He wondered when Reid had decided to read about butter sculpting anyway.

When they turned onto 508 Colquet Ave. Morgan stated "I vote Reid gets the files out of the trunk today." He had an evil grin on his face, because it was raining.

"Ok Morgan, I'll take the boxes in, but only because I beat you so many times at cards on the plane." Morgan laughed at Reid's response, but didn't reply.

"Hey Reid you need some help?" JJ asked, when she noticed he was having difficulty finding the right key.

"No, but thanks I got it." Reid was already almost soaked and he wanted to get inside really fast. The air in Minnesota was much colder than in Virgina. He knew that was because of how far north Minnesota was.

"UGH!" Reid fumbled with the damp keys trying to find the right one and not drop them . His hands were beginning to sting when the wind blew. Even though he had a jacket, the 52 degree weather was not what his jacket was made for, especially when windchills were arround 42.

"Hi, my name's Ryan Gray, do you need any help?" Reid jumpped at the sudden break in the silence, he had no idea that somebody was standing behind him. Reid considered saying no, but he really wanted to get inside.

"I'm Dr. Spencer Reid, Yeah, I guess I could use a hand." Reid mumbled this sentence because he was cold and wet, and wanted to get inside. The second he did he was going to get a big cup of steamy coffee. But what happened next caught Reid by surprise. He was hit in the back of the knee by Ryan. The blow sent him falling to the concrete parking lot.

"You'd better hope your team comes to find you fast." A shiver went down Reid's spine as the words were spoken, and a clammy hand grabbed his neck. The next thing he knew his face was headed for the concrete sidewalk. Then darkness took over.

"I am better, they will never catch me. I could kill this boy before they locate the next body I'm going to dump." Ryan said as he wrote a note to the BAU.

"They think they know how the human criminal thinks…they had better think again. I'm superior to everyone, I know that they all think they can catch up to me, but they can't. I will not allow it."


	3. Chapter 2

**Hello again! Ok this is chapter 2, I hope ya'll like it. Please review, I like to read the comments, good or bad :D**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Criminal Minds or any of the characters from that tv show. I also don't own The Crow/ the quote I used from it.**

Chapter 2

Morgan was the first to notice Reid's absence, since Reid was like a brother to him, Morgan tended to keep an eye on him when he could. Morgan looked out the side window, from the conference room they were in, to see if Reid was walking in.

"Hey Hotch, I'm gonna go see what's keeping Reid."

"Alright, just hurry back, the sheriff is about to give us the infromation on the murders," said Agent Hotchner.

Morgan walked down the police headquarter's narrow hallways, hoping to see Reid on his way inside. When Morgan made his way to the front door, he noticed that the rain had picked up, causing the temperature to drop another ten degrees. The FBI agent shivered at the blowing wind, and pulled his jacket tight arround his body. The first thing Morgan saw when he stepped outside was the abandoned boxes, that Reid had been out voted to carry in, then he stepped closer and saw blood on the concrete.

"Shit!"

Morgan ran to the front doors and called the team out.

"Hotch! Reid's gone, and there's blood on the concrete."

"Prentiss, call Crime Scene Investagation,"said Agent Hotchner.

"Morgan did you try his cell phone?" asked Hotch with a level sounding voice, that did match his growing worried thoughts.

"Yeah, I called him four times when we were all inside,"said Morgan, wondering how Hotch could be keeping calm when Reid was gone, and it was most likely his blood on the ground.

"JJ," Hotch called, "call Garcia, tell her to try to trace Reid's cell phone."

"Ok", JJ answered softly, she hated when Reid was in trouble. He was the youngest member of the team, these types of things shouldn't happen to him, not that it should happen to anyone though.

JJ typed Garcia's number into her cell phone, it rang one time before she answered.

"Wonderful goddess of knowledge speaking, and how might I help you today?" answered Garcia. JJ would have laughed to herself about how ridiculous Garcia sounded, had she not been feeling so anxious.

"Well, I was wondering if you could trace Reid's cell phone for me?" asked JJ in a monotone voice.

"Ha Ha! Very funny JJ, if I could do it? Of corse I can!" Garcia replied in a nonchalant tone. JJ could hear the typing of computer keys over the phone, and she was zoning out in her own thoughts when Garcia's voice came back through.

"Nope, sorry honey, I got nothing." Said Garcia her tone becoming alittle more serious. "Is there something wrong with Reid?" Garcia asked her voice sounding extremely apprehensive.

"Yes," JJ took a deep breath to make the words come out, "he's missing, and we found blood by the SUV parked in the parking lot out front."

"Oh my God, why do things always happen to my baby?" Garcia thought out loud. JJ didn't blame her for saying it though, because she was thinking the same thing. Why Reid?

"Hey guys come look at this!" Prentiss called over to them.

Inside the box filled with now waterlogged papers there was a plastic sandwich bag with a note inside of it. The note was written in ink that had smeared, and the hand writing was atrocious. Morgan picked up the letter and tried to read it to himself first.

"_Hello BAU team members, can you imagine my luck? I never imagined that I'd be able to climb to such heights, meaning all the murders and such. I just want people to suffer the same way I have to every day! The people I loved not gone, but out of my reach! Well, now that I have one of the members of your team, and by his looks the youngest, im assuming, YOU will be able to feel my pain, with Dr. Ried just out of your reach. Oh, and by the way, the murders will not be stopping any time soon. So go ahead and try to find me, humor yourselves. I just want you all to know that every minute that Dr. Reid is with me will be a living hell for him."_

_"If the people we love are stolen from us, the way to have them live on is to never stop loving them. Buildings burn, people die, but real love is forever."_

_-RG_

"Son of a Bitch!" Yelled Morgan when he read the part about the unsub hurting Reid. When he had finished he handed the letter to Hotchner, and walked inside, punching the wall on his way in, hurting himself more than the wall.

Once Hotchner had read the letter, his brow furrowed.

"Let's get inside, the rain is only going to pick up. We've done all we can at the sence for now."

Once they has all made it inside, the reality was beginning to hit. Everyone was silent and had sullen looks on their face. Hotch had to break the silence, not that it was going to make any member of the team feel any better.

"Ok, so we know that the unsub who took Reid, is the same one who's commiting the murders. We need to find a connection," said Agent Hotchner. Everyone was silent. Hotch spoke again.

"We need to find a connection, we need to share ideas, now is not the time to be quiet!" Hotch was beginning to get frustrated. Reid did not diserve to be hurt, physically or mentally, he'd been through enough for one lifetime.

* * *

Reid woke up with an exceedingly bright light in his face, he had to blink several times to git rid of most of the black dots that obstructed his vision. The first thing he noticed was that he had chain shackels on his wrists. Reid moved his head to the right, and had an explosion of pain in his skull, he reached up with is hands, and felt free flowing blood from an open gash on his temple.

The beam was coming from a flash light, from a dark corner in the room.

"So your awake, finally? I've been waiting for so long to see those pretty eyes," said a voice from across the room in a dark corner. Reid recongined the voice as his attcker, Ryan Gray.

Reid's throat was dry, but he squeeked out a "Why?"

"Well why not?", said Ryan, in an mocking tone of voice. "Anyway, are you ready to have some fun?" Reid frowned at the question, knowing that whatever this man had in his mind was surley not going to be fun for him.

Ryan walked right up to Reid, who was slouched against the back wall, of what he could only guess was a basement. Ryan glared at Reid with what Reid was sure was pure, evil and hatred. Out of nowhere Reid spoke.

"Why did you kill those people?"asked Reid his voice, still horse, but audible.

A smile that would make the devil's skin crawl stretched onto Ryan's face. "I killed those people because I had the capability to, and because people need to suffer as I have, just like you, you need to suffer."

"Why did you not kill the children?" Reid asked gently. "Why did you leave them with out mothers, or fathers? Did you leave them that way because your own mother or father left you?"

Ryan was shaking with mixed emotions, he didn't expect the kid to figure all that out, he had never wanted to relive his past, ever mention it or think about it! With Reid's last question barely finished Ryan ran at him, with explosive anger.

"You think you can read me? You think you're so much better? Ryan screamed as Reid tried to pull as far away as he could from Ryan.

Ryan grabbed Reid's jacket and pulled him into a standing position, Reid hadn't noticed the knife in Ryan's hand. Had it been there the whole time? Then with out warning Reid had a sharp pain in his left thigh. Reid gasped with pain, and would have fallen to the floor had he not been help up by Ryan's forceful grip. Reid's eyes rimmed with tears looked at Ryan, and pleaded for him to stop, but his efforts were only laughed at.

"You weak little son of a bitch," said Ryan as Reid cried out at a stab to his abdomen.

Ryan finally let Ried drop to the floor, wincing in pain. Ryan started to walk away, pleased with his work, then turned arround and walked back to stand beside Reid for a minute. Then out of nowhere, Ryan stepped on Ried's abdomen, putting his dead weight on Reid's wounds.

"Please," Reid coughed and tasted blood in his mouth.

"Shut up bastard!" Ryan stood on top of Reid until his eyes closed, and there was a rather large pool of blood arround his body. Ryan then dipped his fingers into the blood that was on the floor, and wrote a letter addressed to the BAU team.


	4. Chapter 3

**Hey I'm sorry about the spelling mistake (I seriously can't spell to save my life) and I really should have looked up Minnesota weather more, I'm from Texas, so frost is my snow , and we don't get any untill like February:P but I'll make sure things are more accurate this time. Oh, and im sorry for not putting Rossi in my story, I wasn't sure that I could portray his personality correctly, if ya'll know what I mean :/ But thank you everyone that reviwed! I really appreciate it :D ****( sorry this update was kinda late :S )**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Criminal Minds, or any of their characters.**

Chapter 3

"Garcia, I need you to look up all the males in the county of St. Louis, Minnesota, with the initials RG, between the ages of 29-40. Also look up convicted murderers, and past killings in the area." Hotch said to the projection screen, with Penelope's image on it.

"Got it, the men with inictials RG, within the age range, are: Ralph Garrison, Randy Galloway, Ryan Gray, Ray Goffer, Reagan Gilbert, and Richard Gibson," Garcia replied, "All of which have a criminal record. I'm sending you their criminal backgrounds, along with a physical description and picture. I also did a little extar credit work, and looked at the surveillance cameras arround the building."

Morgan stepped out to retrieve the papers Garcia was faxing over.

"What did you find on the camera's? Prentiss curiously asked.

"Well I found out that our unsub is a white male, he's the one that held the door you guys when you first arrived at the police station. He has dark hair, but other than that, he kept his face out of sight from the cameras. But the good news is that I was able to narrow the list down by half, leaving us with three guys: Randy Galloway, Ryan Gray, and Richard Gibson."

"He held the door for us," Hotch stated, talking to himself more than Garcia. "He was polite, he can blend in and stay overlooked by people." Hotch was angered by his inability to remember them man's face.

Garcia pulled up the surveillance camera recordings and fast forewarded to 2:15p.m. All the agents felt their hearstrings being pulled when they saw Reid accepting help from the stranger that was going to soon turn on him.

JJ averted her eyes when the attack began, she could not watch the man hurt Reid. Prentiss lowered her gaze, she hated to see Reid's innocence being taken advantage of; he never though bad of anyone, unless proven wrong.

Hotch spoke first, breaking the silence.

"In the letter he adressed to us he talks highly of himself, saying things like 'try to find me, humor yourselves,' he thinks that he can't be caught. Our unsub is a narcissistic psychopath. He wants to hear about his murders, and will be watching the progress of this case. He'll be reading the local papers, and watching the news. He wants people to know and fear him, he wants to be in control, and we need to let him believe he is."

JJ stood up when Morgan walked back into the conference room, and placed the pictures of the first three murder victims on the whiteboard, hanging on the wall. The pictures had the names and ages of the deceased victims.

"Hotch all the women have blond hair and green eyes. The men have black hair and eyes a shade of gray," Prentiss stated.

"Maybe he's choosing people with these physical characteristics, because they are of offence to him. Like a past girl that rejected him, and the man that got the girl." Morgan affirmed.

"It's a possibility." Hotch responded.

"All of the girl victims have the same initials, AS: Anna Saxon, Arianna Santos, Alyssa Salazar. While the men have the initials DS, Dalton Sandry and Dean Sanders ," Prentiss added. "That could be another connection."

"Garcia look up where the victims lived, and where they were found." Hotch said.

"On it." She replied, then disconnected her image from the room.

A police officer walked into the room, his expression grim.

"We have another victim," The police officer declared.

The agents piled into one SUV, and headed to the crime scene. Morgan cranked up the heat as high as it could go, getting frustrated that the air still blew cold for about five minutes.

"Morgan you're going to break the car, if you don't stop trying to turn the heat nob any further," JJ said.

"Well I don't like sitting in a refrigerator, so im going to keep twisting this nob until I get my heat!" Morgan shouted with a sarcastic tone.

The team arrived at the crime scene at 6:30 p.m., and the temperature was well below freezing. The rain that had been falling hours eariler, had lightened up and had turned into light snow flurries, but according to the police officers the weather was only going to intensify.

The crime scene was located behind a housing subdivision. The woman, April Stanton, had been shot in her heart, and had a note pinned to her jacket, that included more than just her name, age, and the time of death. She had obviously been dumpped in this location, there was a vast lack of blood.

Hotch unpinned the note and read:

"_April Stanton, 29, 3:27 p.m. –_

_My actions Do seem to belittle your hopes of finding Dr. Reid alive. Never the less, he is Unmistakably Living, but his well-being is another story. I warn you now, do not Underestimate me. I Tell you at this time I Have, and will always be in control._

_-RG_

_P.S. Did you pick up on the fact that I wrote this note in Spencer's blood?"_

Hotch's face went pale, and his body was rigid as he read the postscript question. Morgan picked up on Hotch's body language, and walked over to him. Hotch handed the letter to Morgan, who had a deadly scowl carved deep into his face the whole time he was reading.

"Shit." Morgan mumbled. This was happening to Reid because he made him get the files out of the trunk.

_I just couldn't have stayed and helped him? Morgan thought._

Hotch noticed Morgan's silence.

"This isn't your fault, Morgan, so stop beating yourself up."

"Hotch you really think that just because you say that, I'm going to believe it?"

* * *

Ryan unchained Reid, and dragged him across the basement floor.

"Ready to get those wounds fixed?" Ryan asked in a wicked tone.

Reid didn't want Ryan to 'fix' anything. If Ryan's idea of fun was attacking somebody with a knife, then Reid didn't want to find out how he fixed things.

"Stop," Reid tried to say, when Ryan tied a strip of cloth right above the wound on his left thigh, but his words weren't acknowledged.

"I can't have you die just yet, we were just getting to know eachother. And we were having lots of fun." Ryan said with a menacing tone.

Reid groaned when the pressure of the tourniquet was applied.

"Now that I have stopped the blood flow, we can get to the fun part."

Ryan left the room, but Reid's gaze followed him, his brain trying to think of what Ryan ment by the fun part. Everytime Reid tried to move he got lightheaded, eventhough he was sitting on the floor. The sound of Ryan's boots could be heard echoing, and coming closer. Reid thought he was going to be sick just at the thought of Ryan returning.

When Ryan came into the room, he had a bottle of clear liquid in his hand. Reid didn't think much about it until Ryan opened it and he smelled rubbing alcohol. Ryan came close to Reid, and Ried tried to scoot away, but Ryan kicked his injured leg, causing Reid to yell with pain.

"Don't worry this is going to be a lot of fun, Spencer."

Reid didn't like hearing Ryan say his name , he said it with such malevolence, and hate, it made Reid feel sick to his stomach. He wondered how people grew up to be that way.

Ryan then poured the alcohol on both of Reid's injuries. Waves of searing pain swept throughout his body, making Reid's breathing become more and more labored.

Ryan then left the room again. Reid had tears streaming down his cheeks, and didn't notice when Ryan came back. Reid suddenly felt himself being pushed down, he tried to fight against the hands on his sholders, but Ryan was much stronger.

Ryan rolled Ried's shirt up, exposing his wound, where the knife had pierced his skin. Reid flinched when Ryan raised his hand, but it was just to pick up a small metal pole that he heated over an open flame.

Reid's eyes grew twice in size when he saw the red-hot metal, coming closer to his injured flesh.

"N..no, please…you don't have to do this," Reid said with terror in his voice. Reid didn't have to blink for his tears to fall.

Ryan ignored Reid's pleas to stop, and brough the heated metal down on Reid's abdomen, cauterizing Reid's flesh anyway. Reid screamed , and thrashed around, trying to find some type of escape from the burning metal. But there was no escape, Ryan held Reid down, and prevented him from moving.

Ryan stood up to get the second metal pole, to 'fix' Reid's leg. Reid's tears were uncontrollable, and his pain was unbearable. When Ryan grasped Reid's leg to pull him closer, Reid instinctively kicked Ryan in the chest.

Ryan stumbled back, surprised by the blow he'd recived to his chest; anger filled his body.

"I…I didn't mean to," Reid said stumbling on his words, "Reflexes are involuntary a…and nearly instantaneous movements that are n…nearly impossible to stop." Reid's red eyes looked up at Ryan, hoping that he understood.

Ryan didn't speak any words, instead he grabbed Reids leg, cauterizing it just as he had done to his abdomen. Reid yelled, and pleaded for Ryan to stop, but Ryan just smiled and held down the burning pole for longer than he needed to, harming Reid's leg more than helping.

Reid's pain and fear were overwhelming, he was beginning to see black dots everywhere. He tried to blink them away, but with each blink he made the dots grew bigger in size, and darker in color.

As Reid whimpered on the ground, wishing that the pain would disappear, he hear Ryan speak for the first time since he had been kicked in the chest.

"I control everything. I control weather you live," Ryan sighed deeply, "or you die. I can not be beaten, I always win in the end." Ryan said, as he glared at Reid with hatred.

With that being said Ryan placed Reid's hands back into the shackles, and left him alone, whimpering in the cold and dark of the basement. He had other work to attend to.


	5. Chapter 4

**Crap! Y'all I'm really sorry for the spelling mistakes. I had NO idea that fanfiction had a spell checker on the edit page! Oh my god, that thing is my BEST friend, no joke. Also I'm glad that y'all are liking my story, and thanks a lot for reviewing :D criticism is needed, both good and bad. So please continue to review, I'd really appreciate it all. (this chapter is pretty long, so be prepared! but I'm pretty sure the length was worth it) guess what? i used spell check, so every think should be good this time! **

**Disclaimer: I don't' own Criminal Minds or any of the character from that T.V. show.**

Chapter 4

Abigail Smith was unpacking the groceries she had just bought when the door bell rang.

"Noah, honey, can you go look though the front window and tell me who's at the door?"

"Yes Mommy." Noah, her 6 year old son answered.

"Mommy! Daddy's here!" Noah said getting excited.

"Sweetie, Daddy's at work. Abigail called across the house."

"No, Mommy, my first real Daddy his here!" Noah shouted back.

"Noah, I need you to go play in the back yard for a minute, OK?" Abigail told the 6 year old. Noah didn't know why his parents didn't live together, but it didn't seem to bother him. Abigail had divorced her husband because he would beat her, and threatened to hurt Noah.

Abigail walked to the front door, and when she opened it, she was looking into the familiar blue eyes of Ryan Gray.

"Ryan I told you to stay away." She said sharply, clearly not pleased with his presence.

"I just wanted to visit Noah, I haven't seen him in 3 months Abigail," Ryan stated. "Are you going to not let me in?" Ryan said with a menacing tone.

"No." Abigail said firmly.

"OK, I guess I can't go against what you want," Ryan said with a sigh.

"Just get off my property," Abigail said gesturing him away with her arms.

"Oh I forgot to ask, how's the new husband, Daniel?"

"Ryan. Leave. Now." Abigail's intense glare made Ryan back down one step.

Ryan turned to walk away, but never had any intention of leaving. Ryan turned to Abigail one last time, smiling at her before he grabbed her head and slammed it against her front door. He caught her before she fell to the ground, and dragged her limp body inside.

"You see, Abigail, I always get what I want. Nobody can tell me no."

With that being said he pulled his car around to the side of her house, inside the garage, and stuffed her in the trunk, before going to get Noah.

* * *

Agent Hotchner's cell phone range twice before he answered it.

"Hotchner," He answered

"Hey Hotch it's Garcia. I've been doing a little research on each of our suspects, and I have to say that each of them has a very colorful background. I mean they have everything from childhood CPS visits, to juvenile detention centers, and ending with getting a DD from the Navy."

Hotch pulled the SUV into the AmericInn Motel parking lot, taking the key out of the ignition, and staying in his seat to finish the conversation with Garcia.

JJ was sleeping with her head against the window, and jumped when Prentiss touched her shoulder to wake her up.

Morgan was taking the luggage out of the trunk, and handed the two girls their bags. He then retreated to his room, not speaking a single word.

"He blames himself for what's happening." Prentiss said.

JJ frowned, but she understood what Morgan was going through. She remembered how terrible she felt when Reid had been kidnapped in Georgia, by Tobias Hankel.

"Well, it's never easy, things like this, when you firmly believe that there's something that you could have done to prevent it." JJ finally said after a minute of silence.

After that was said both JJ and Prentiss walked in silence to their motel rooms. They were both extremely tired from the day's events, but they also knew that they wouldn't be able to get any sleep until Reid was found.

Morgan paced angrily around his room.

"_That bastard unsub is probably strolling around the town looking for a new victim. I'm the reason he's not caught yet. Reid would have figured this case out already and all I did was cause him to get hurt again. I swear if Hotch doesn't shoot this guy I will." _Morgan thought to himself.

It was ten o'clock when Morgan finally calmed down enough to lie down in bed, but every time he shut his eyes was a new image of Reid being tortured by some psychopathic freak.

Hotch was having trouble sleeping as well. He hated not knowing where Reid was. He hated how the unsub had made contact with them just that afternoon, by holding the door, and they could not identify him.

Just then Hotch's cell phone rang, it was Garcia.

"Hi Hotch, I'm sorry if I woke you, but the police got a 911 call from a Daniel Smith, he told police that his wife and step son were kidnapped by his wife's ex."

"Why was that call of any importance?"

"Her ex- husband, the abductor, was one of our suspects, Ryan Gray."

"Did you find out where he lives?"

"That's a negative; I've looked everywhere for credit cards uses, or car purchases. But this guy just dropped off the charts 3 months ago."

"What happened 3 months ago?" Hotch asked.

"His wife Abigail divorced him, she stated that he beat her, and threatened to hurt their son, Noah. So she packed up, remarried, and moved to Silver Bay."

"Well, keep looking, go back through the letters he left us and see if there are any clues to where he might be. I'm going to wake up the others; we're going to head to the wife's house."

"Ok. Good luck, and be safe." Garcia added before hanging up.

* * *

The basement felt like a sub-zero refrigerator. Reid could see his breath in the darkness in front of his face. He shivered violently, his clothes still damp from the rain, and blood. His burns felt like he was dipping them in a pool of vinegar, any time he tried to move, he was stopped by waves of pain rippling throughout his body.

Reid heard the basement door open, and saw Ryan turn on the lights, before dragging a young woman down the stairs, with a young boy following.

"What's wrong with Mommy?" Noah asked Ryan.

As soon as Ryan placed Abigail on the ground, he spun around and slapped Noah's face. Noah fell to the ground and sobbed with pain, and shock. Reid jumped when Noah was hit; he was also enraged that Ryan would a child. Ryan dragged Abigail's body over to the wall next to Reid, and smiled. He then picked up Noah, and half carried, half dragged him to a sitting position next to mother, but didn't chain him.

"He's your son." Reid said nodding toward Noah.

"Yeah, what about him?" Ryan said with an irritated tone.

"Do you hit your son and beat your wife because that's what your father did?" Reid stated.

"Shut up." Ryan muttered with a deadly gaze at Reid, as he chained Abigail's wrists to the wall.

"Your father beat your mother, and that drove her away or killed her. She was the only thing keeping the beatings off you, so when she died, you became the object of abuse."

"I said shut up!" Ryan yelled walking toward Reid, and pulled a hammer off a work shop desk that was against the far wall. Noah cowered behind his mother's limp body and cried.

"You skipped from foster family to foster family, each one worse than the one before. You never learned how to love people, because the only person who ever showed you adequate affection was your mother, and she was dead."

"Shut the hell up!" Ryan screamed bringing the hammer down on Reid's right shoulder. Noah screamed when he saw his dad hit Reid with the hammer, and continued to sob.

Reid screamed in agony, but continued to talk through clenched teeth.

"You find a woman that you do love, years later; you get married and have a child, Noah. But when you start to get abusive she leaves you, just how you mother left, only she's not dead. Your ex-wife's image is everywhere, any woman with blonde hair and, green eyes reminds you of her, and the men remind you of who remarried her."

"I will kill you if you don't shut the hell up!" Ryan yelled again, bringing the hammer down on Reid's ribs. The pain was excruciating, he felt his ribs crack and break under the force of the hammer. Reid gasped and fell on to his side writhing in agony. Every breath he breathed in was painful, but he continued to speak to Ryan.

"Y…you were furious t...that she left, so you f...feel the need to hurt her." Reid whispered.

Ryan kicked Reid in the ribs, causing a coughing attack. Each cough was like a thousand knifes stabbing Reid's side over and over. When the coughing stopped he was left with a white hot pain in his rib cage, and started to sit up.

Reid didn't have another chance to speak, because as soon as he had finished coughing; Ryan hit Reid in the head with the hammer. All Reid felt was a sharp pain, then his body went limp, and he fell over onto the floor, while darkness consumed him.

"Dumb ass, I told him not to underestimate me." Ryan muttered while smiling as the thought back on all the pain he'd caused Reid to suffer through. Ryan whipped his head around and glared at Noah. The young boy whimpered, and hid behind his mother's body. Ryan smiled and walked up the steps into his house, the boy was right to be afraid. Then he slammed the door behind him, leaving his prisoners in a bitter darkness.

* * *

Hotch and the team drove to Silver Bay at 4:30a.m., none of them had been able to sleep, so everyone was practically wide awake when they got into the SUV. The temperature was 10 degrees and the wind chill was below zero. The snow that had started the day before had picked up and there was now at least 2.5 inches on the ground, and was getting worse the further north they traveled.

"The snow is really picturesque; it looks just like a postcard." JJ exclaimed.

"You like this crap?" Morgan asked seriously confused.

"Yep, I always have." JJ replied.

"Maybe you should go to sleep, then wake up again, because snow is just annoying frozen water, that slows us down!" Morgan shouted more harshly than he should have.

JJ frowned, but let his comment go. She knew what he was feeling.

"Morgan maybe you're the one that should go to sleep," Prentiss added, "sounds like you need it more than JJ."

Morgan ignored Emily's comment, but JJ didn't she smiled silently thanking Emily for backing her up.

An hour later, they turned onto Penn Boulevard for 5 minutes, and then turned right onto Davis Drive. Hotch pulled over towards a large, yellow two story home. There was crime scene tape wrapped around the front lot of the house.

There was a man in a black suit that looked emotionally and physically drained.

"As I said before, I came home from work at the bank, I work there as an accountant, at 5:30 p.m. and Abigail and Noah were gone. The front door had blood on it, and so did the carpet in our front room. I looked around the house to see if they were there, but they weren't, so about 5 minutes after I got home I called the cops." The man stated.

Hotch walked up to the man.

"Hello I'm Special Agent Aaron Hotchner; this is Special Agent Derek Morgan, Special Agent Emily Prentiss, and Special Agent Jennifer Jareau. We are with the FBI's Behavioral Analysis Unit."

The man shook their hands and continued to introduce himself.

"My name is Daniel Smith; I'm Abigail Smith's husband, and Noah's step-father."

"Do you know of anyone who would want to hurt Abigail, or Noah?" Hotch asked.

"No one comes to mind except her ex, Ryan Gray. That man had problems. He'd come to our house in the middle of the night demanding to see Abigail and Noah." Daniel said.

Hotch stayed to talk to the man, while Morgan, JJ, and Prentiss went to look around the crime scene.

"There's no sign of forced entry, but there's blood on the door," Morgan stated.

"Maybe he threatened her, and made her let him in, and that's when he attacked." Prentiss said.

"Then why is the blood on the outside of the door?" JJ asked.

"He says let me in she says no, and expects him to leave. He fakes leaving, turns around fast, catching Abigail by surprise, and slams her head into the door." Morgan affirmed.

Morgan looked up and saw that JJ wasn't listening to him anymore she was reading another note, wide eyed, left by Ryan Gray.

"_You won't find me in time to save everyone. So start making your decision on who will live. I'll make this a little clearer for you. You have 48 hours to try and find me, and if you don't, then I start killing my hostages, starting with the BAU team's very own, Dr. Spencer Reid. _

_-RG"_


	6. Chapter 5

**UGH! My stupid computer won't let me use Microsoft Word anymore, because apparently my "trial time" is up! What the heck? Well, anyway, after I freaked out for a few minutes I realized that I can just go back into my old documents, upload them onto here, erase them, and continue to write :P (yeah sorry if I confused y'all, it made since to me) Anyway, I'm sorry I didn't update yesterday, I had writers block, and just couldn't think of anything, so I figured I'd better wait to write. Well here's the latest chapter, I love all reviews, so write them down for me :D**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Criminal Minds or any of their characters.**

Chapter 5

"Mommy?" Noah whispered. He only been in the basement for 30 minutes, but he was already shivering.

Noah shook his mother's shoulder, causing her to groan.

"Wake up Mommy, I'm scared." Noah pleaded with her.

Abigail slowly opened her eyes, but only saw dark outlines of shapes. She was exceedingly confused for a few moments until she heard Noah talking to her.

"Noah?"

"Mommy!" Noah gasped, pulling her body into a tight hug. "I'm scared and cold. Daddy hit me, and then beat up that guy over there." Noah said pointing to Reid's body.

Abigail gasped, and held him in her lap, "Oh my God, Noah are you OK?"

"Mommy I'm ok, I'm just cold. Why did Daddy lock us in his basement?" Noah asked.

"He's a bad man Noah, he always was. That's why we don't live with him."

"Oh, I get it Mommy; you didn't want to live in a basement, so you moved away." Noah exclaimed.

Abigail smiled at Noah's comment, ruffled his hair, and then turned her head in the direction of the other man. Her eyes had adjusted to the dark, so she could see that he was relatively young, but she couldn't see his face because his hair was in the way.

"Noah I need you to go see if that man is breathing, OK?"

"Alright," Noah climbed out of his mother's lap and walked over to where Reid was laying. He then placed his small hand in front of Reid's mouth to feel if there was any blowing air.

"Yep, he's breathing Mommy."

"Can you try to wake him up? Be gentle Noah."

Noah nodded, and knelt down on his knees, and poked Reid on the cheek twice.

"Time to wake up," Noah said as he continued to poke Reid. Reid stirred as Noah continued to poke and prod him. "Mommy he's waking up!" Noah said getting excited.

"Please stop poking me." Reid said with a horse voice. He struggled to sit up against the wall, so Noah grabbed his arm softly and helped sit up.

"Thank you." Reid whispered, as he winced, at Noah's cold touch.

"You're welcome, I'm Noah, and that's my mom over there," He said pointing to Abigail.

"My name is Dr. Spencer Reid." Reid replied with a horse voice.

"You're a doctor? Do you get to cut people open, and fix them?"

"N…No," Reid said stumbling on his words, not really liking the young boy's word choice. "I'm not a medical doctor; all my degrees are PhD's."

Noah just stared at Reid with a blank expression, not understanding a word that Reid had just spoken.

"Honey, he doesn't work in a hospital, or operate on people." Noah's mother explained. Noah seemed to understand enough not ask another question. Noah walked back over to his mom, and sat in her lap, she wrapped her arms around him to try and warm him up.

Just then Ryan burst through the door, making all the captives flinch. The lights from upstairs were blinding, and left random black dots popping up everywhere, in everyone's eyes.

Ryan walked right towards Abigail, and tried to pull Noah from her grip. When Abigail refused to let Noah go, Ryan slapped her face, causing her grip to weaken. Noah screamed when he was finally torn away from his mother and tossed towards Reid. Then out of nowhere, Ryan pulled a gun on Abigail.

"You deserve this," Ryan muttered.

"Ryan no please, don't." Abigail said through her tears.

Reid spoke up trying to be heard over Noah's screams, "Ryan, don't do this. If you love her then you'll put the gun down." Reid said with a shaky voice.

Reid gathered all his energy, and held Noah tight by his side, while the boy fought to get to his mother.

"You shouldn't have left Abigail," Ryan said, lowering the gun, "but I have different plans for you and Noah now."

Noah cried into Reid's shirt while he watched Ryan beat his mother, until she was unconscious. The only comfort that Reid could give to Noah was to wrap his arms around him.

Ryan exited the room, dragging Abigail's body behind him.

* * *

"Hotch get over here!" Morgan shouted from inside the house. Hotch walked toward the other agents and was handed the newest letter. He read the words carefully, and then spoke.

"Ryan changed his profile, he never takes the child." Hotch said. "He always leaves them to suffer the aftermath."

"Maybe Ryan took the kid because they were related." Morgan said.

"I doubt it."Hotch answered.

Just then Morgan's phone rang. The caller ID told him it was Garcia.

"Hey baby girl what's up?"

"I have good news and bad news," Garcia replied, "I, being my amazing self, looked back over the second letter that creep left us. The grammatical mistakes, when placed in the right order spell out DULUTH, and that so happens to be a town approximately 55 miles south of your current location." Garcia replied.

"Shit! We passed through Duluth to get to Silver Bay!" Morgan raved.

"Yeah, that was your bad news," Garcia muttered, "but because I'm super awesome, I have a part two to the good news. I found a residential address on our Ryan Gray, the address is 615 Pittsburgh AVE. I couldn't find it before because the home's ownership is listed under his mother's maiden name, Lillian Matthews ." Garcia added.

"Thanks girl," Morgan stated.

"You know you love me," Garcia said before hanging up.

Morgan walked over to where Hotch was talking to Prentiss and JJ.

"Hey, Gracia found out where Ryan is hiding." Morgan announced.

"Where?" JJ asked in a delighted tone.

"Duluth." Morgan answered.

"We passed through that town on the way out here." Prentiss exclaimed.

"JJ go tell the police that we found out where Ryan Gray, the abductor is,"Hotch said, "also tell them to send a SWAT team to his residence, he may be armed," he added.

With that being said, the agents piled into the SUV, and sped towards the town of Duluth, all hoping to find their dearly missed fellow agent.

* * *

Noah was still whimpering next to Reid, when Ryan returned, five minutes later.

"Get up you little piece of shit." Ryan said to Noah, grabbing his shirt while he spoke. Noah screamed and grabbed onto Reid's arm, trying to free himself from Ryan's grasp.

"Leave him alone, he's just a kid!" Reid yelled at Ryan. Reid's grasp was lost when Ryan kicked him in the chest. Reid fell over in pain, and tried to block out Noah's screams as he was dragged up stairs, just like his mother had been. Reid heard Noah's screams for a few more moments, then everything fell silent.

Reid shivered when his mind began to go through all the horrific scenarios that Ryan could be playing out on Abigail and Noah. He also regretted thinking it, but the thought of _'there's a possibility that I'm going to die here,'_ went through his head. Tears formed in Reid's eyes, he wished that he could have helped Noah and his mother more, but he just didn't have the physical energy. Reid closed his eyes and laid his head against the back wall, falling in a out of consciousness. He didn't know how long he'd been out, but he was awakened by some body's cold touch.

Reid cracked his eyes open and saw Ryan replacing the bandages on his leg, and abdomen, where he'd been stabbed. He flinched at Ryan's cold hands, and his harsh swift movements as he took the bandages off. Reid gasped when Ryan tied the new strips of cloth around his leg and stomach. Ryan then grabbed Reid's arm and pulled him up, making Reid yelp with surprise and pain.

"What...?"was the only word that Reid managed to say before Ryan cut him off, and began to half carry, half drag him to the stairs. Ryan had no empathy for Reid, and also had no mercy when he pulled him up the stairs. Every time Reid would cry out in pain Ryan would just smile or laugh at him.

Once they were up the stairs, Ryan pulled Reid into a small kitchen, sat him down in a chair, then walked through the back door. Reid looked out one of the windows, and saw that it was probably about 3 in the afternoon. The sky was threatening to drop down more snow, even though there was more than 3 inches on the ground.

Ryan walked back into the kitchen, and began to talk.

"You little friends, from the BAU, are headed this way, and that's just what i wanted. You see i set up a little surprise for them, they do like surprises right?" Ryan asked in a malevolent tone.

Reid frowned in anger.

"Well you and me are going to take a little trip, to visit my dear old daddy." Ryan said with pure hate.

When Reid didn't reply to any of Ryan's comments, he began to get agitated.

"What, are you at a loss of words?" Ryan yelled. "Don't you want to know why I took you, or at least where you play into my plans?" Ryan continued to yell at Reid.

Reid was zoning in and out, he really didn't care what this guy had to say anymore. He had stopped listening when he heard the words 'your friends, from the BAU, are headed this way, and that's just what I wanted.' Reid wondered why Ryan wanted them here, most murderers/kidnappers don't want to be found. Reid was also just happy to know that the team knew where he was.

"Answer me!" Ryan yelled at Reid for the third time.

"Sure, tell me why I was kidnapped by you." Reid said in a calm quiet voice.

"When I was 10 my father beat my mother to death, and guess who didn't go to jail. Just take a wild guess now!" Ryan shouted

"I'm guessing your dad." Reid answered.

"You guessed right, so today, you and me are going to pay that asshole a visit, and I will shoot him. Then once I kill him you're next. Guess why." Ryan said.

"I don't know." Reid replied.

"I'm going to shoot you, one because I can, and two because you work for the government, and who didn't put my father in jail? Oh, yeah, the people that work for the government." Ryan said boldly.

* * *

Hotch's cell phone rang when he pulled the car into the driveway of 615 Pittsburgh AVE. Morgan, Prentiss, and JJ ran up to the door. Morgan kicked it down and the rushed inside, guns drawn.

"Hotchner." He said not checking the caller ID.

"Hotch, it's Gracia, I just received an email, from a man that claims to be our guy, Ryan Gray." Garcia said with a worried tone.

"Did you read it?" Hotch asked.

"Yes, it said:

_"Dear BAU Team, by the time you reach my house I will be long gone. I have taken Spencer with me, but Abigail, and Noah weren't so lucky. I have placed them in two different houses, that I will have burned down by the hour of 4 o'clock. Try all you want, but you can't save them. I also want you to know that you will not be getting Spencer back alive, if you find him that's up to you, but he will be dead by the time you get to the location I have chosen to be his last. Catch me if you can._

_-RG"_

Garcia read the email to Hotch, but began to cry towards the end, and he had to tell her to repeat many words.

Hotch looked over at Morgan, and saw the disappointment in his face, Reid was gone, just like the email had said.


	7. Chapter 6

**Thanks to everyone that reviewed :) Oh, and that thing about the grammatical mistakes spelling out Duluth that Garcia was talking about was true, i was being sneaky and put that in there to see if anybody would catch it :P I'm sorry that I've been slow with my updates, it's because my school started this week, and I've been super nervous...but anyway, thanks to everyone that's been reading my story, and reviewing :) all reviews are welcome so keep posting them :D p.s.- sorry that this chapter was a little short :[**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Criminal Minds or any of their characters.**

Chapter 6

3:00 p.m.

Ryan had a gun on Reid the whole drive to Hermantown. Reid didn't plan on trying to escape, he was too weak to move on his own anyway. Ryan had to practically drag him to the car when they left the house.

Reid had fallen asleep within ten minutes of the drive, the heated car was heaven to his sick and injured body. His infected burns, and broken bones made moving agonizing.

"Wake up," Ryan said, poking Reid with his gun, "we're here."

Reid cracked his eyes open, and cringed when the gun made contact with his injured body. He saw an old white house, with peeling paint, and a shop in the back yard. Behind the shop was a tree line, they were on the edge of town. Past the trees was nothing but forest and hills.

Ryan walked over to Reid's side of the car and pulled him out. Reid tried to stand on his own, but got light headed when he put wight on his left leg. Reid collapsed onto the snowy ground, and began to shiver again. He just began to notice how cold he was, and how much his body hurt. Reid began to wonder if he'd be alive when his team found him, or if he be just another body for them to find.

When Reid didn't stand, Ryan grabbed him by the back of his jacket, and dragged him all the way to the front porch. Ryan picked the lock and walked right in, leaving Reid alone in the snow. Reid heard a shout, some scuffling and then a loud thud. Ryan reappeared in the door, pulling his unconscious father behind him.

Ryan tied his father's hands and feet, with a rope, then pulled him around to the side of the house. Reid sat in the snow by the porch steps, feeling faint at the slightest movement. Ryan came back to the front of the house, with more rope. He grabbed Reid's hand's and swiftly tied them together, and did the same with his feet.

The snow felt like daggers ripping into Reid's skin as Ryan lugged Reid through the snow, and chuckled when he heard any yelps or groans. Ryan placed Reid next to his father in the snow, and walked back to the car to retrieve his gun.

* * *

3:25 p.m.

"Come on baby girl, we gotta find where this guy would take Abigail and Noah," Morgan said into his cell phone to Garcia, "maybe it was a house of a foster family he hated, or a relative that abused him."

"Ummmm...OK, I might have found something, Ryan Gray was put into foster care at the age of 10 when his father, Mark Gray, beat his mother, Lillian Gray, to death. He was in the foster care of the Byers's Family. They reported him to the police, two months after his stay, because of death threats, and physical fights between Ryan and the other children of the household. The houses' address is 117 N River Bend. The other two house's have quite the same story, household violence between Ryan and the families. The addresses are: 225 Pittsburgh Ln. and 128 Methodist St." Garcia replied.

"And these three families all live in Duluth?" Morgan asked.

"You are correct, and I have excellent news, I know for a fact that Ryan Gray had tried numerous times to kill his father, and I just so happen to have his daddy's address," Garcia said cutting off Morgan," It's 462 Maple Grove Rd. Yes, yes i am awesome, but I have some bad news Ryan's dad lives in Hermantown, about 30 minutes from Duluth."

Morgan sighed, "What would we do without you baby?"

"I don't know, just go save that mother and her baby, and bring me back my baby!" Garcia said getting all emotional.

"We will." Morgan said in a determined tone.

* * *

3:40 p.m.

Abigail woke up in the living room of a house that she didn't recgonize, but that did not matter to her, she needed to see that Noah was ok.

She tried to call out for Noah, but found that her moth was gagged, and when she tried to move she found that she was tied to a chair that was bolted to the floor. Abigail tried to twist her hands free of the bindings, but only ended up with raw wrists.

Abigail's head whipped around when she heard a pop, comming from the kitchen,but nothing came through the swinging door, just the smell of gas. She recognized the gas as carbon monoxide. Abigail frantically tried to free herself, from the chair, but began to get lightheaded, and dizzy.

Abigial passed out, 10 minutes before the fire began, and died before the fire would be put out.

* * *

4:00 p.m.

Noah could see the flames coming from the kitchen, and smelled a strange sent in the air. It didn't smell like smoke, but it made him feel sick, and dizzy. Noah cried and screamed for help, but nobody was coming. Like his mother he had tried to free his hands, but that only resulted in raw wrists.

Tears and smoke hurt his eyes, he began to cough, and see black dots everywhere. Noah's head fell to his chest, and he passed out right when the front door was kicked open by a firefighter.

JJ and Prentiss accompanied Noah to the hospital, he had stopped breathing for a few minutes when in the ambulance, but they were able to stabilize him.

"Hotch, we got Noah," JJ said, then sighed, "but the mother perished in the fire."

"Morgan and I are entering Hermantown, and are on the way to Mark Gray's house."

"Ok, call if you find anything." JJ said hopefully.

Hotch hung up and sped down the road that led to Mark Gray's house.

* * *

4:10

When Ryan came back from his car, he had not only his gun with him, but a sack too. Ryan set the sack on a tree stump that stuck out of the snow, and pulled out a large rock and threw it at his father's head.

Reid flinched when the stone made contact with the elderly man's head, making a bone breaking crack noise. Mark Gray yelled with surprise and pain, and brought his hands up to his head to try and protect himself.

Reid looked away, when Ryan ran towards Mark, with a stone in his hand, and brought it down onto his father's skull again. Reid tried to block out the noise, but he still heard all the pleas for mercy, and painful skull cracking sound effects.

Tears fell down his feverish cheeks, and blinded his eyes. He never saw Ryan walking towards him.

"What are you crying about now your worthless piece of crap!" Ryan shouted at Reid, while kicking him down into the snow.

Reid couldn't respond, he had no energy left, he could not do anything to protect himself. While Reid laid defenceless in the snow, Ryan walked back over to his father and shot him in the head.

Reid jumpped at the sudden dischrge of the gun, and turned his head to see Ryan walking back over to his, with his gun in hand.

The gun discharged a second time, and Ryan Gray fled the scene.

* * *

4:20 p.m.

Hotch pulled up to 462 Maple Grove Rd. and it had started to snow again. When he stepped out of his car, he saw new tire tracks leading away from the house, and he knew that Ryan Gray was not at the scene. Hotch also saw many blood trails, leading around to the side of the house.

Both Morgan and Hotch walked around to the side of the house, guns drawn. They followed the blood trail, and the disturbed snow to find two bodies laying in the snow, both covered in scarlet blood.

One of the limp forms was Mark Gray, and the other was Spencer Reid.


	8. Chapter 7

**I'm really sorry about the slowed pace of my updates, school gets in the way of everything :( But thank you to those that read and reviewed :D that really makes my day :P I really hope that the wait was worth all my effort! But i guess a kinda short update is better than nothing :P Read and Review like always, and thank you to all the people that have stayed with my story for this long, you have no idea how much I appreciate it! And about the medical terms and stuff the doctors said, yeah...umm I'm not a doctor so sorry if some of the stuff isn't right :S (google is more of a doctor than I am)**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Criminal Minds, or any of the characters. I also don't own the medical explanation of Pulmonary irritants. I also don't own Google. ( idk if i had to add that last one, i guess i did, because i mentioned google..idk :S)**

Chapter 7

Everything happened like it was in slow motion. Ryan walked over to his father and shot him in the head, making Reid flinch with the sudden break of silence. When Reid cracked his eyes open he saw Ryan pointing his gun in his direction. Then the gun discharged a second time, and Reid felt a ripping pain in his chest. Ryan ran from the scene moments later.

Reid was trying to keep his eyes open, but suddenly found out that he was quickly loosing control of his body. Breathing hurt, and took a tremendous amount of effort. Everything was cold, and Reid could feel himself getting weaker by the second. A familiar darkness was consuming him, when he hear the sound of people trudging through the snow. He turned his head to the side to see to familiar faces getting closer. By the time Morgan and Hotch reached Reid, he was falling into unconsciousness.

Reid felt a cold hand on his neck, and heard tow men talking, but he couldn't understand what they were saying, he was to weak to comprehend any words.

"Shit! Hotch that bastard shot him!" Morgan shouted.

Hotch quickly applied pressure to the gun shot wound in Reid's chest, causing Reid to hiss with pain. Morgan grasped Reid's hand to see if he was responsive, he could tell Reid was still with them, but it was obviously a loosing battle for him.

"Come on pretty boy, stay with us." Morgan said to Reid as he held his hand tighter, when Reid's grip began to loosen.

* * *

JJ and Prentiss were in the hospital waiting room. Since they had arrived they knew nothing about what was happening to Noah, and had no call from Hotch or Morgan. Noah had stopped breathing in the ambulance a second time. The paramedics said it was because of the smoke inhalation, but that didn't make Prentiss or JJ feel any better for Noah. As soon as they arrived he was taken to the back of the ER, beyond the point of where family or friends could accompany the patient.

JJ was beginning to doze off when her cell phone rang. The caller ID showed Hotch. She answered the phone to hear Morgan talking to somebody in the back ground, in a frustrated tone.

"Hello?" JJ asked very confused.

"JJ we got Reid," Hotch said in a agitated tone. "He's being taken to St. Luke's Hospital."

"Thank God! How is he? When..." JJ began talking a million words a second, her worry taking control.

"He's not good, Ryan shot him, he lost a lot of blood. Not to mention all his other injuries." Hotch stated.

JJ could hear Morgan shouting at the paramedics in the background, telling them to do their jobs better.

"Morgan settle down." Hotch said in a stern tone.

"JJ where are you and Prentiss?" Hotch asked.

"We're at St. Mary's Children Hospital, I think St. Luke's is just a few blocks away." she answered.

"Ok, I need you to call Garcia, and tell her we have Reid, but Ryan got away. We need her to find any hits on where he could be. We believe that he is driving a 2004 white Toyota Camry. "

"Wait, he got away?" JJ asked surprised that Morgan hadn't caught and killed Ryan already.

"Unfortunately, yes." Hotch said.

"I'm gonna kick that bastard's ass, JJ!"she heard Morgan shouting.

"I don't doubt you at all Morgan." JJsaid with a smile on her face, she hoped that Morgan did catch that guy, after everything that Ryan put Reid through, she wanted Morgan to kick his ass more and more.

JJ heard more worried shouting in the background, most of the noise coming from Morgan.

"JJ i have to go. Call Garcia." Hotch said quickly, then hung up.

"Wait.." JJ was cut off by the instant hang up. She quickly became worried, playing all the scenarios over and over in her head about what could have made Hotch hang up. Each thought was less pleasant that the one before. JJ turned around to see Prentiss looking really frustrated and confused.

"What happened?" Prentiss asked.

"That was Hotch, they found Reid, he's being taken to St. Luke's Hospital," she replied.

"They found him? Is he OK?" Prentiss asked, worry immediately entering her voice.

JJ shook her head, then pulled out her phone.

"Ryan shot him, then got away." JJ stated.

"Oh my God." Prentiss suddenly frowned at the thought of Reid being shot. "Is he alive?"

"Yes, but he's not doing to good. Morgan was yelling at everyone in the ambulance, and then Hotch hung up on me." JJ said with a sad tone. "Hotch told me to call Garcia, and update her on what's going on, and to see if she can track Ryan's car."

Prentiss sighed, and sat down on the uncomfortable hospital waiting room couch. She shook her head a few times, but didn't reply to what JJ had said.

Just then a doctor walked into the waiting room.

"Noah Gray?" the doctor asked, looking around the room to see who responded to the name.

Both JJ and Prentiss stood up, and the doctor walked over to them.

"Hello, I'm Doctor Hallsman. I happy to say that we have stabilized Noah. He had severe Pulmonary irritation, but he should be able to recover in the time span of three weeks." Dr. Hallsman stated.

"Pulmonary irritation?" JJ asked, and the second she asked when wished she hadn't.

"Irritants can cause direct tissue injury, acute bronchospasm, and activation of the body's inflammatory response system. Activated leukocytes and/or humoral mediators, such as prostanoids and leukotrienes, produce oxygen radicals and proteolytic enzymes. Supporting the importance of the inflammatory response to the mechanism of tissue destruction, some studies have shown that the administration of the cyclooxygenaseinhibitor, ibuprofen, was found to reduce the lung lymph flow in animals with smoke inhalation." Dr. Hallsman answered.

Both JJ and Prentiss just nodded their heads, and pretended to understand, butreally they were both lost after Dr. Hallsman said the word bronchospasam, and stopped listening at leukocytes.

"When are we allowed to see him?" Prentiss asked.

"Anytime you'd like, but you have to be quite, and calm. Too much activity can set off an asthma attack, and by the way his lungs are inflamed right now, that'd be bad." Dr. Hallsman warned.

JJ and Prentiss followed Dr. Hallsman down the hall to the elevator. They rode to the 6Th, and walked to room 255. When they got into Noah's room, he was asleep, but they could hear his troubled breathing from across the room. Noah looked peaceful, but they both knew how seriously ill he was.

* * *

The ride from Hermantown to Duluth, took only 16 minutes, but every second was nerve racking. Morgan was continuously yelling at the paramedics, telling them to do their job better. Reid was drifting in and out of consciousness, while he struggled to breathe. Twice on the ride over his heart stopped, due to the blood loss. Reid stopped breathing once, because he chocked on the blood that was filling up his throat, slowly drowning him.

Hotch had give up on trying to calm Morgan down. Every time Reid winced, or gasped in pain, Morgan would threaten each of the medical assistants. Hotch knew that everything Morgan was saying to them was nothing personal, he was just enraged that Ryan got away, and he had to take his anger out on somebody. Morgan had blamed himself for Reid getting kidnapped again, so the past week had been both depressing and irritating.

"BP 60 over 45 and dropping," said a white male, that Hotch knew by the name of Scott, because Morgan had been focusing his anger at him for the moment.

"I need 25 milligrams of fludrocortisone," a woman said, while rummaging around in a container of clear liquids, quickly reading each label.

Once the medicine was injected into Reid's body, his blood pressure began to rise, but only by a few digits; not really enough to take him out of the danger zone, but enough to keep him safe for the ride to the hospital.

When they finally arrived at St. Luke's Reid was rushed into the OR, he needed an immediate blood transfusion, and they could tell he had a serious head injury, along with many broken bones.

Morgan and Hotch were then forced to play the dreaded waiting game.

* * *

"Hey Garcia, Hotch and Morgan got Reid!" JJ said with a joyous tone, "but Ryan fled the scene, before they got there," JJ added in an angered mumble.

"Oh my God! How is my baby?" Garcia asked with much concern, "wait, did you just say that the asshole Ryan got away? JJ, I'm sorry for the language, but he hurt my sweetheart! I have some right to talk this way."

"Yeah, he slipped away again. Hotch wants you to try and track him down." JJ stated, "He's driving a 2004 white Toyota Camry."

"You people really do underestimate my power, don't you?" Garcia said with a cocky tone.

"Nope, we all know that you're the best!" JJ quickly added.

"I knew that you'd say that." Garcia said with a big smile on her face.

JJ heard the sound of keys being hit with amazing speed, then Garcia's voice was back.

"Well, I don't know why but I can't find him just yet. Are you sure his car was a 2004?" Garcia asked.

"That's what Hotch told me." JJ answered.

"Ok, I'll keep loking. Keep me updated on everything that happens. Even if Reid just twitches I want to know!"

"OK, OK, I won't keep you information deprived. Thanks Garcia your aweso..." JJ was suddenly cut off.

"Oh, no need to thank me I know I'm awesome!" and with that being said she hung up, and continued to search for Ryan, but she wasn't going to find him soon enough.

* * *

Ryan changed cars as soon as he hit the edge of Hernamtown. He hot wired a gray 2006 Honda, and drove towards Duluth.

Before Ryan fled the scene, where Reid and Mark were, he bugged his fathers jacket, so he knew exactly where to find Noah and Reid. He wasn't going to let them get away alive. He worked too hard and long to let them slip away.

Ryan entered a Diamond Shamrock gas station, and walked to the restroom. He went into one of the stalls to change into a pair of nurses' scrubs. He walked out and bought a ham sandwich with a diet Dr. Pepper. As Ryan ate his sandwich, on the way to St. Mary's, he smiled a malevolent smirk.

As he pulled into the parking lot of St. Mary's he reached under the seat, where he had placed a bottle of chloroform. Ryan took a small white cloth out of his pocket, and drenched the rag in the hazardous chemical.

Ryan had planned on killing Noah since he was an infant. The only thing that protected him was Abigail, but now she was gone. Ryan smiled again, when he stepped out of his car, when he thought about how he was going to kill Dr. Reid after he was finished with Noah.

He laughed to himself, "No, FBI agent can beat me. I have already proved that. I was always better, and I was always going to win."

He picked up his pace as he got more excited when he walked into the hospital.

"Excuse me ma'am, I am looking for the patient, Noah Gray." Ryan said with a kind and loving tone, that was the complete opposite to what he was really feeling.

"Room 255, 6th floor." The receptionist said in a monotone voice.

"Thank you." Ryan answered and began the walk to the elevator, with a deadly smile plastered onto his face.


	9. Chapter 8

**Thanks for the reviews on my last chapter :) I'm still apologizing for my slow pace, it annoys me too :S But anyway, I hope y'all like my latest chapter :D I'm really not sure how much longer the story is gonna be, but im pretty sure that its coming to an end. But then again, I really don't know...when an idea pops up I write it :P haha! this is my longest chapter :D ACHIEVEMENTS! :))))**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Criminal Minds, or any of their characters. **

Chapter 8

Ryan reached the 6th floor, and walked with a brisk pace to room 255. He knocked lightly on the door, then walked in. The room was light green, with a large window on the far wall. Two women were sitting on the couch, talking softly, careful not to wake the sleeping child.

Ryan spoke in a hushed tone.

"Hello, My name is Dr. Brunswick, I'm here to take Noah to his first Pulmonary rehabilitation secession."

Ryan was unrecognizable, he had on a surgeon's hat that covered his hair color, and had even took the liberty to put in a pair of brown colored contacts. JJ and Prentiss didn't even have the thought in their minds that Ryan would come back after Noah, so their guard was down anyway, adding to Ryan's growing list of advantages.

Neither JJ or Prentiss understood.

"Pulmonary rehabilitation?" JJ asked, raising her eye brows in confusion.

"In the house fire, Noah suffered from smoke inhalation, the irritants caused direct tissue damage. Causing brochospasams, and activation of the body's inflammatory system. If his condition is untreated, the chances of survival slim to about 20 percent." Ryan answered in a professional voice.

"Well Noah just fell asleep, could you come back another time?" Prentiss asked. She truly felt for Noah, she could tell he was having trouble breathing, and was uncomfortable without his mother. She hadn't had the heart to tell him the devastating news about his mother yet, and hoped that she wasn't going to have to be the bearer of bad news to the boy.

"Time is just something that we don't have enough of in his particular case, I'm sorry I didn't catch your names." Ryan said, hoping that they would hand Noah over soon. He was practically twitching with excitement, and wanted to get started with the murder.

"I'm Special Agent Emily Prentiss, and this is Special Agent Jennifer Jareau." Prentiss answered.

"From the FBI I'm assuming, I heard about the local murders. The poor boy lost his mother in a house fire, I read in his report." Ryan said calmly. "He's going to be groggy from the medicine the nurses gave him, to help relax his airways, but i have a wheelchair for him."

"We'll wake him up." JJsaid, and began to walk over to Noah's bed with Prentiss.

They gently shook Noah's shoulder to wake him. He instantly responded to the touch on his shoulder, but was slow to open his eyes.

Noah finally opened his glossy blue eyes, that reflected his physical and mental exhaustion.

"Noah, Dr. Brunswick is here to help you breathe better." JJ said to the boy. "He's going to take you to a different section of the hospital, so you can get better, OK?" she added.

Noah's eyes just stared up at the ceiling, he apparently wasn't lucid enough to understand anything being said to him. In fact he was just about to fall asleep again, when Ryan came over to the bed ,lifted Noah up, and placed him in the wheelchair.

"Ready to go get better, Buddy?" Ryan added with a spark of enthusiasm.

"Are we allowed to accompany Noah?" JJ asked quickly before Ryan rolled him out of the room.

Ryan's patience was wearing thin, he wanted to kill Noah, now! But if he did in front of the FBI agent's he wouldn't be able to go after his real target, Dr. Reid.

"Sorry, but I have to take him up to the 8th floor, and only patients and staff are allowed. Even if you were allowed, you would not be able to be with him. I have to put Noah into a clean room, so the air can be filtered, and pure for about an hour before I start his real treatment." Ryan said with a hint of noticeable irritation in his voice.

JJand Prentiss gave up, withtrying to be with Noah, obviously this Dr. Brunswick was as strict as his name sounded.

With that being said, Noah sat limply in the wheelchair, unaware of the cruel intentions that the so called "doctor" had for him.

While Ryan was wheeling Noah down the hall to the elevator, Noah lifted his head to see his doctor again. Noah's eyes widened in fear as he recognized the all to familiar facial features of his deranged father. Ryan noticed his son's frightened gaze on his face, and when they got into the elevator alone, Ryan knelt down next to Noah and said:

"Hello son, ready for some more fun?"

* * *

Hotch and Morgan had been in the waiting room for over three hours now, and still had no update on what was happening to Reid.

Morgan had dozed off on a uncomfortable, faded blue couch. Even though he was extremely worried for Reid, he couldn't keep physical exhaustion away any longer. Hotch decided to call JJ and Prentiss, to see how Noah was doing, he was also kind of bored too.

"Hey Hotch," JJ answered.

"How's the kid?" he asked.

"Alright, a doctor just came to take him to a Pulmonary rehabilitation secession upstairs. Other than that everything is quite here. Have you heard anything on Reid's condition?"

"No, three hours, and we've heard nothing," Hotch said, "Morgan finally crashed on the couch though." he added.

"Well, keep us updated. I'll tell Prentiss what you told me, she went to get us something to eat. I'm glad Morgan finally fell asleep though, Reid being kidnapped again really took its toll on him, partly because he blamed himself." JJ said.

"OK, I'll call you two when I find out anything."

"Alright thanks, bye." JJ said while hanging up.

Twenty minutes later, an older doctor, with short brown hair, and gray eyes walked into the room.

"Spencer Reid," he said while directly looking at Hotch and Morgan since they were the only two in the waiting room.

Morgan jumped up from the couch the second he heard Reid's name, as if he was never asleep and practically snoring a few minutes ago.

"I'm assuming you men are here for Spencer Reid," the doctor stated, "My name is Dr. Albridge."

"Yes we are." Hotch said, "How is he?"

"Well, I have to say your young friend is one little fighter. I've never seen someone so determined to live in my entire time as a trauma surgeon. He sustained two stab wounds one on his abdomen, right below his ribs, just barely puncturing his left lung. The other stab wound was high on his left thigh. Bothofthe stabs had been cauterized, and both got infected," Albridge said, "His leg had been burnt much worse than his abdomen I must say." he added.

Albridgepausedto catch his breath, and the silence between the men was deadly.

"Spencer also suffered extreme head trauma. I believe he was beaten with a hammer, or some type of blunt object; his right shoulder was broken with the same object. I'm sure you are aware that he was shot in the chest, we were successful in removing the bullet, it came within inches of his heart, but he pulled through. Spencer also has a few broken ribs, others are bruised. He is going to stay in the ICU over night for observation, and because we couldn't bring his high fever down."

"When can we go see him?" Morgan asked almost the instant Albrideg stopped talking.

"I will allow you two to go see him now, as long as you don't upset him. I will warn you now though, that due to his head injuries we were unable to sedate him. So my patient, Spencer Reid, will be in an immense amount of pain."

Hotch and Morgan frowned at the news that Reid was still suffering, even after he'd been rescued. Dr. Albridge led them to the elevator and rose to the 5th floor, and walked to room 112.

When they entered they saw Reid laying in a hospital bed. His eyes were closed tight withpain, and with his right hand Reid had a white knuckle grip on the rail of his bed. He was breathing in small fast breaths, like each movement hurt. Reid also had a film of sweat on his face, making strands of hair stick to his forehead. He was much paler and thinner than he normally was, not to mention all the tubes and IVs connected to his body. Both Hotch and Morgan agreed that Reid looked bad.

They took seats next to Reid's bed, and sat in shock, at how he looked. They had seen him just hours earlier, but somehow he hadn't looked as sick or fragile.

* * *

Garcia called JJ, she second she had a hit on Ryan.

"Hey JJ I got a hit on Ryan. He was last seen at a Diamond Shamrock gas station, but what's weird is that he was driving a different car. He is now driving a 2006 gray Honda, the car's owner reported it missing yesterday."

"Do you have any idea where Ryan is? Noah kept waking up, from nightmares, screaming, and saying things like, 'He's gonna come back! He's gonna kill me, he took Mommy away! Now he's coming back to get me and Dr. Reid!' JJsaid. "I'm worried that there might be some truth to what Noah told us. Ryan might come back and try to get them."

"Well, they found Ryan's old car abandoned on the edge of Duluth, in a heavily wooded area. He doesn't want to be found if he changed cars. But, what the...?"

"Garcia?" JJ asked in a curious tone.

"I think that bastard just sent me an email." Garcia said with a confusion filled tone.

"What does it say?" asked JJ.

"Oh my God! JJwhere'sNoah? Please tell me he is with you." Garcia asked. JJ could tell she was about to cry.

"Garcia, what's going on? Noah went to some lung breathing class, he's right here in the hospital."

"JJ, Ryan has Noah. He's going to kill him. Ryan is in the hospital."

"Crap! Are you sure?" JJ asked panic filling her voice.

"Yes, he sent me pictures too." Garcia said with a shaky voice.

"Shit! Garcia, Prentiss and I are going get Noah, call Hotch!" After JJyelledthat she hung up and ran to the elevator with Prentiss.

* * *

Ryan drove his car towards St. Luke's hospital, he smiled as he relived every moment in his mind.

_After he brought Noah into one of the exam rooms, he shut the door behind him. Noah was obviously scared, but he didn't have the strength to walk, or scream for help. Ryan laughed as Noah tried to create as much space as he could between himself and his narcissistic father._

_"What's wrong Noah, you don't want to have some fun?" Ryan asked as he pulled out a small knife and walked toward Noah. _

_Noah whimpered, and tears began to fall from his eyes, but that didn't stop Ryan. He placed the knife on Noah's forearm, and placed pressure until blood began to flow from the cut. Ryan then pulled the knife upward all the way to Noah's shoulder._

_Before Noah could try and scream, Ryan placed the chloroformed cloth against Noah's mouth and nose. Noah's struggles began to weaken, and eventually stopped. Ryan then continued to cut and stab Noah. He finished with slitting his throat. _

_Ryan enjoyed watching the flood flow from his son's wounds, he was also proud of his work. Before he left, he did two things: he sent and email to the BAU's Technical Analyst, and left his trade mark note at the crime scene._

Ryan knew that the BAU had received his email, and was glad to see that his plan was working. As he drove down the street, he saw 3 police cars, and one large, black SUV.

Ryan knew that the black SUV's belonged to the FBI, and he was happy to see that they were speeding away to find his dead son, and not staying behind to protect his next target, Spencer Reid.

"This is just too easy," Ryan thought out loud to himself, "And they thought they could catch me!" Ryan laughed at his comment, as his drove into the parking lot of St. Luke's.

Ryan smiled and said as he stepped out of his car, "The next time they see Dr. Spencer Reid, will be at his funeral." With that being said, Ryan walked toward the hospital with a fast pace, just like he had done at St. Mary's, before he brutally murdered Noah.

* * *

"Hotch!" JJ yelled into her cell phone. He could tell her voice was cracking, and she was emotionally distressed.

"JJ, is Noah, OK?" Hotch asked firmly.

"Ryan killed him, Hotch. He just walked, and Emily and I allowed Noah to be taken away to be brutally murdered!" JJ was shouting now. She and Prentiss had stumbled into the room where Noah's lifeless body was laying on the floor, and JJ could not control her emotions any more. Prentiss let a few tears fall, but not as many as JJ had.

"JJ, you know that's not true," Hotch started, but a new voice was on the phone. JJ had handed Prentiss the phone because she didn't want to talk anymore.

"Hotch, Ryan left another letter, he wrote it in Noah's blood. Just like the one from before with Reid's blood." Prentiss said, she wasn't crying like JJ, but she was obviously upset with the murder of the boy.

"The letter says:"

_"There is truly nothing like watching the life fade from a child's face;watching the blood dripping from your own son's dead body. Knowing that I caused his slow painful death, just made my experience, and last moments with Noah, just that much better. How is the baby of your team holding up? I haven't had the chance to pay him a visit, yet. Oh, and this is a special shout out to Agent's Prentiss, and Jareau. I'm glad that you two ignored my son's frightened cries about me returning to kill him. Isn't it funny that he was actually telling the truth? I thank you for handing himover to me with out a question, that really made my day. By the way my son had given you some information about me if you were listening. I will let you figure it out yourselves, but since I'min such a good mode you get one hint. It involves the death of your friend, and colleague Spencer Reid. _

_-RG"_

"Oh my God, Hotch! Ryan is going after Reid again!" Prentiss shouted. JJ flinched when she heard those word come out of Prentiss's mouth.

"Damn it!" Morgan yelled when he heard the news. "That bastard! I'm gonna break his neck!"

"Shit!" Hotch yelled as Prentiss's words finally set in. "You two, let the police take over. I need you to come to St. Luke's with Morgan and I." Morgan was yelling words that were inaudible to Prentiss and JJ, but they did hear him say "Hotch turn around, that asshole is probably at the hospital right now! Dumb ass roads with 5 inches of snow! I mean what the hell?"

"Hotch," JJ had the phone now, "Is there anyone with Reid right now?" she asked in a soft voice, close to crying again.

"No." Hotch said, then he hung up the phone. There was nothing else to say.


	10. Chapter 9

**Ha ha! Yep I'm evil for ending the last chapter on a cliffhanger :) but i like to keep y'all on the edge of your seats! :D Sorry about killing Noah, I needed him out of the way. I know that there are so many other ways to get him on the sidelines, but I just felt like killing a character then (:S and he just so happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. Thanks for all the reviews, they're very uplifting :) if y'all write on here, you understand that reviews, good or bad, help with a story a lot! So thanks again to everyone that reviewed :P Oh yeah and the part about Ryan having a gun...i seriously know NOTHING about guns, so if I'm off by a lot, or a little just use your great imaginations and just ignore my mistakes :D**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Criminal Minds, or any of the characters.**

Chapter 9

Pain was the only thing that Reid could think about, or feel. When he tried to let his mind wander, or try to sleep, he was brutally brought back to reality by anguishing waves of sering pain. Every time he opened his eyes, the bright lights streaming in from the windows caused pounding headaches, and extreme nausea to occur.

Every now and then a nurse would come to check on Reid, but other than that he could sense no familiar presence with him. The room was empty, and cold. Reid was about to fall back into an uneasy sleep, when he suddenly felt a rough hand on his neck, pulling him into a sitting position.

Reid winced, when he was abruptly jerked upward. He opened his eyes, to see Ryan smiling, malevolently, back at him.

"Don't scream, if you do," Ryan motioned to a gun he had in his left hand, "you won't be the only one that dies today."

Reid's eyes were wide with panic, and fear.

_Why is this still happening? Why is nobody here to help me?_ Reid thought.

As Ryan pulled Reid out of the hospital bed, Reid tried to free himself from Ryan's iron grasp around his neck. Ryan noticed Reid struggles, and punched him in the stomach. Reid gasped, and his legs gave out. Ryan dragged him over near the window.

"I don't have time for that! Stay still, and don't make any noise, or I start shooting all the people on this floor!" Ryan strictly said, in a hushed tone.

Ryan walked back over to the door, and locked it. He then preceded to walk back over to Reid, who was sitting limply against a wall. Ryan pulled the blinds down to make sure an outside view was impossible, and to make sure nobody could witness was was going to happen.

"Where's Noah?" Reid asked, in a horse voice, trying to stall Ryan for just a few more minutes. Reid was hoping that a nurse would come to the door and notice that it was locked, and get him help before Ryan did to much damage. Reid knew that Ryan wasn't going to let him get out of this unscathed.

"Noah is none of your concern, but I'll have you know that I took care of him." Ryan said stepping closer to Reid, taking a knife out of his pocket.

Reid tried to push himself as far away from Ryan as he could, but the wall, and his waining physical strength didn't allow it.

"Wh-"

"Shut the hell up!" Ryan shouted, apparently not caring if he could be heard anymore. Then he lunged foreword, aiming for Reid's neck. Reid moved at the last second, saving his neck, but the knife sunk down into his right shoulder.

Reid opened his mouth to scream, but his dry throat only permitted air to pass, no audible noises were heard. His left hand instantly came up to hold his injured shoulder, to try give himself some form of comfort, but his efforts were useless, the pain was still there,and was not going to leave any time soon.

"Shit! you little bastard!" Ryan shouted, not caring if anyone heard him screaming anymore. Ryan, then ripped the knife out of Reid's shoulder, and brought it down into his ribcage.

Reid gasped in pain, but managed to kick Ryan square in the chest, with enough force to knock him over. Ryan stood up in shock, he didn't think Reid had that much energy left in him. He then smiled and advanced back toward Reid.

"You're going to be sorry that you just did that."

* * *

Morgan pushed the SUV's speed limit to the max, as he sped through the snow and traffic filled streets. Even though St. Luke's was only a few blocks away, every second could mean life or death for their young colleague. Both Hotch, and Morgan were on edge, they tensed, when the vehicle had to slow to avoid other cars, and pedestrians.

Prentiss and JJ were following a few blocks behind, driving about just as fast.

"Damn it, ass hole!" Morgan yelled, as a black car cut him off in an intersection. He quickly sped up again, and continued to drive in silence, with a frown on his face.

A few minutes later, they were stopped again, but this time is was because the street leading to St. Luke's was barricaded by a road block. Morgan cursed again, pulling over to a restaurant that was across the street from the hospital.

Hotch and Morgan, quickly crossed the street, and proceeded to walk to the entrance of the hospital. A police officer stopped them in their tracks.

"I'm going to have to ask you to gentlemen to leave the designated area," the officer said in a monotone voice.

"What the hell is going on man?" Morgan asked with an agitated tone, "we aren't leaving, our friend is in there!"

Hotch flashed his FBI credentials, and the police officer let out an annoyed sigh.

"The hospital is being evacuated due to an unidentified gunman; shots have been fired," the officer muttered.

The eyes of both agents grew wide with worry and fear for Reid's life. The words _'shots have been fired'_ would not leave their heads.

"We have to get in there." Morgan said, and started walking toward the front of the building.

"You can't just go in there! Do you want that man to start shooting again, and have more people die, because of you?" the police office shouted at Morgan, and quickly grabbed his shoulder to stop him from entering the hospital.

Morgan whipped around, pulled his arm out of the grasp the man had it in, and stared the police officer right in the eye.

"Nobody is gonna die because of me," He stared with deadly determination.

"Look man," the police officer said, "there are a few nurses wearing yellow vests in the left parking lot ,where the patients are being transported, they will be able to tell you if your friend is in the building or not," he said trying to gain some trust from Morgan.

Hotch spoke up, after it started to look like Morgan was going to rip the police officer's throat out.

"Morgan, we need to find one of those nurses now. We don't even know if Reid is still in the building, and if he is time is against us; I can't have you wasting any of it being mad at a police officer."

Hotch walked briskly toward the left parking lot, his eyes already searching for any signs of a yellow vest.

Morgan muttered a few inaudible words to the office, then jogged to catch up with Hotch's quickened pace.

* * *

Ryan had 10 bullets left he'd only had to fire 2.

Reid was still conscious, but the pain was indescribable. Every movement, even the small ones, like breathing, caused him to wince.

"What are you gawking at?" Ryan asked kicking Reid in the leg, to get his attention.

Reid flinched at Ryan's sudden movement, then winced when Ryan's foot made contact with his leg.

"You shot those nurses, they-"

"Yes, 'they' brought their deaths upon themselves, if they had just obeyed me, they would have lived to see another day."

"That's something that I will never understand." Reid thought out loud.

"What is?" Ryan asked interested in what Reid had to say.

"What triggers the thought in a person's mind, that tells them that taking a life is instantly OK? You are just like ever other murderer out there. Ryan you think that you are better, but in reality you are just another narcissistic psychopath."

"You little shit." Ryan said in a mocking tone. He then turned around to face Reid and shot him in the leg.

Reid screamed, and grabbed his leg. Tears were clouding his vision, so he didn't see Ryan kneeling down next to him

"Am I still just the same as the others?" Ryan whispered into Reid's ear, and for the sake of his life, he didn't reply. He just tried to apply as much pressure to his leg as his body would allow him to, all the while uncontrollable tears continued to fall. He didn't know how much more of this he could take.

* * *

Hotch and Morgan had just found a nurse that was wearing a yellow vest over a large jacket, when they heard a SWAT member shouting into his microphone, "shot fired! shot fired!"

They could only hope that Reid was not inside with the shooter, that they were sure was Ryan.

"Can I help you the nurse asked," in a frazzled tone, he breath cloud covering most of her face. She was obviously upset with all that was happening, and the cold weather didn't help her at all.

"Yes, we're looking for a patient, his name is Spencer Reid." Hotch asked, wishing that the nurse would say ,'yes he's here', but he knew better.

"I'm sorry, but his name isn't on my list, you could try checking with another nurse, they might have seen, and checked his name down, or he could have been transported to another hospital," she said with a small smile, trying to sound reassuring.

"Shit!" Morgan shouted, and began to walk off, not caring about all the strange stares he was receiving.

"Morgan you need to calm down." Hotch said in a stern tone, looking Morgan strait in the eye.

"How in the hell can I be calm Hotch? He's in this mess because of me!" Morgan shout getting louder and louder.

"I understand that you might think that, but it's not true. You need to set those feeling aside, Reid needs us to be thinking clearly right now, no matter how hard that is."

Just then JJ and Prentiss walked up.

"Did you find him?" JJ asked hoping for the right words to bring her some type of relief.

"No, he's still inside, with Ryan." Morgan muttered, "How did you two find us in this crowd?"

Both JJ and Prentiss smiled despite the current situation.

"You shout really loud Morgan." JJ said, with a small smile on her face, which disappeared when Morgan began to glare at her.

"I'm going find a way into the hospital," Morgan said, then walked off.

"He's still blaming himself, for all of this," Hotch said, as soon as Morgan walked away.

"We figured he still would, at lest until he gets Reid back," Prentiss stated.

"I'm going talk to the police, JJ I need you to go see if any of the press knows things that we don't. Prentiss I need you to go see if we can get into the building. Reid needs us to get to him now," Hotch said.

After a span of about 10 minutes, Morgan had convinced to SWAT team to enter the hospital. His way of persuading was more threats, than anything else. He picked up his cell phone and dialed Hotch's number.

"Hey, Hotch I got the SWAT team ready to enter the hospital. We're moving in 5 minutes," Morgan said.

"OK, I'll get Prentiss, and JJ. We'll meet you at the front entrance."

* * *

Reid's breathing had increased, and he was having more and more trouble keeping his eyes open, and that frightened him. He was scared that if he closed his eyes, he wouldn't wake up; he didn't want to die. Even in the warmth of the heated hospital room, Reid shivered, and was reminded of the perilous situation he was in.

Ryan had been kicking and cutting Reid, with his knife, for 30 minutes. Each time Reid yelped, winced or tried to free himself from Ryan's grip, Ryan would only laugh.

"You are going to die alone." Ryan said as he brought his knife up to Reid's neck. Just then Reid heard shouting from behind the closed hospital door, and the voices were familiar to him.

Ryan was surprised by the sudden break of silence, and he stood up pulling Reid into a stand position, using him as a human shield right as the door was kicked open.

Reid got lightheaded when he was forced to his feet, but Ryan held him up firm with a knife at his neck. Even though Reid's vision was blurring, he could recognize the faces of his team members standing in the door way.

"Ryan put the knife down!" Hotch shouted, as he had his gun pointed at the deranged man.

Ryan let out a laugh, at mocked Hotch's demand. "What makes you think I would do that? My mother died, so he has to die too!" Ryan began to put pressure on the knife, causing scarlet blood to break out against Reid's pale skin.

"Ryan! You keep pressing on that knife and I'm going to shoot you!" Morgan yelled, with pure hate in his voice.

"Ok, Ok, you caught me." Ryan said lowering the knife from Reid's neck, but didn't let the young man go.

"Ryan let Reid go, and put your hand's on your head." Hotch said getting frustrated.

Ryan didn't respond, he just stood there with a blank expression on his face.

"Reid does he have any other weapons on him?" Hotch asked.

"Other than the knife in his hand, he has a gun inside his jacket." Reid replied with a raspy voice, that hurt all of his friends to hear.

Out of nowhere, Ryan sprung back to life, catching all the agents and SWAT members off guard, quickly stabbing the knife into Reid's neck. After he had the knife in Reid's neck, he twisted it and then pulled it out just a fast as he jabbed it in.

Reid dropped to the floor, holding his neck, screaming in pain. Then second Reid was down all of the guns that were in the building were aimed, and discharging bullets at Ryan Gray.

Ryan was dead before his body hit the floor, everyone had stopped firing after one shot, except Morgan. Half of the bullets in Ryan's body were from Morgan's gun.

Once Ryan's body hit the floor the BAU profilers, knew he was dead, and that it was safe to proceed farther into the room, to aid their fallen colleague.

Reid was lying on the cold hospital floor, choking on his own blood. He had tried to stop the blood from flowing out of his neck, but he had lost to much blood, and was slowing fading away.

JJ was holding Reid's hand, talking to him, and trying to keep him awake. Morgan had ripped the sheet off of the hospital bed and had it firmly placed against Reid's neck. Hotch was shouting at the SWAT team to get help. Prentiss was holding on to Reid's other hand, and she couldn't help but notice how cold it was.

The second Ryan had been shot everything happened in slow motion. The entire BAU team was in shock, and stayed on the ground next to their fallen friend until the doctors took him away once again; his life was in their hands.

* * *

**OK, yeah I know that what I just did to Reid was extremely evil, and at least I'm acknowledging it. :S But hey he was in a hospital, so he should be alright, Reid is tough! Oh I'm pretty sure that Ch 10 is going to be the ending chapter to my story. I'm so excited! I'm amazed that I kept writing for this long :D AND i need to thank all the people the added me to author alert, favorite author/story, and reviewed! And thanks to all the people that stayed with my story these long weeks :D i really appreciated that :P I'm gonna TRY to get the next chapter up as soon as possible! bear with me! school just gets in the way!**


	11. Chapter 12

**I'm so sorry for the long wait! I seriously had no idea how to follow up the last chapter! And ya'll know things came up :S I never could figure out how to write a good ending, but i tried my best. Thank you to everyone that stayed with my story, I know that my long periods of updates was annoying, it bothers me too! But here is the last chapter to my very first story! I hope y'all enjoyed it, I had a good time writing. Once again just like before please read and review MANY THANKS!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Criminal Minds or any of their characters.**

Chapter 10

'You'd think that whatever God is in control of our world would cut Reid a break now and then, obviously not. Everywhere that kid goes he gets himself into some kind of trouble,' Morgan thought to himself.

The whole team was, once again, sitting around in the waiting room. The room was silent, a pensive mood overtaking everyone. A strange kind of numbness fell over the room, preventing any emotion from being shone or felt, at the moment. Snow was still falling outside, causing the heaters in the hospital to kick on, making the constant blowing noise the only sound in the room.

JJ was sitting near a window, staring out at the people scrambling in the white snow below. Strangely enough, she had shed no tears, yet. She was well aware that emotions could only be kept at bay for so long. She turned her head slightly away from the window, so she could see the others. Morgan was leaning against a tile wall, and like everyone else, had a blank expression on his face. JJ also saw Hotch sitting in a chair, he looked exhausted. He had bags under his eyes, and he was hunched over, with his elbows resting on his knees. Prentiss was, like Hotch sitting in a chair, her same emotionless self, but JJ knew she had to be feeling something.

Minutes turned into hours, and waiting became torturous. With so much time on their hands, ever single person in the waiting room reluctantly went through their mental 'what if' check lists, causing their own form of despondency to grow stronger.

JJ tried to take a nap, but soon found that it was impossible. Her mind was functioning in a hyperactive way, not allowing her to rest. So she took to gazing out of the second story window again.

Hotch couldn't stop thinking about the previous events that led to Reid being held hostage in the hospital. He kept replaying Ryan's death in his mind, each time wishing that they could have fired their guns a few moments before Ryan stabbed Reid in the neck.

* * *

"There's nothing left we can do," Dr. Albridge confirmed, "he had enough body trauma when he arrived, and I hadn't expected him to last through that, and now with the stress of other other wounds I doubt that he could last through the next few days."

Dr. Albridge was in the operating room, for three hours, with four other nurses. Even though they had stitched up all Reid's wounds, and removed the bullet, the extremities of the injuries were too much for his battered body to handle. Albridge didn't know how much longer the young man would last, so he asked one of the nurses to bring him to a recovery room, and make him as comfortable as she could. Albridge then had the task that every doctor dreaded, bringing the news to family and friends that their loved one was either dead, or not going to survive.

Albridge cast a last glance at the ashen, sedated man on the stretcher, then proceeded to walk out of the operating room, shaking his head the whole way out. Albridge hated when he became attached to his patients, it made keeping his composure, and doing his job with out doubts harder; this particular medical case had, against his will, had touched him, and would stay with him forever.

The ride in the elevator was too short, and no words would flow into Albridge's head. He became more anxious with every step that brought him closer to the waiting room. Once Albridge pushed the door open, every head whipped around to the direction of the break in the silence. Once again Albridge felt a wave of apprehension, he didn't want to say the words that would just about kill the young man's friends.

* * *

Reid was vaguely aware of his surroundings, all he could see was colors blurring along the sides of his half-open eyes, as he was rolled into a recovery room. The pain he had felt before was now just an annoying dull throb, that rolled across his body. Reid knew that something was wrong from the minute he woke up. Everything was too cold, and he was beginning to feel like he was having one big out-of-body experience. Every sound in the room was amplified, but the abnormal beat of the beeping heart monitor was the most noticeable. The lights were also exceedingly bright, Reid had to squint to block out the painful artificial lights.

"You OK honey?" the nurse asked, thinking Reid was in pain from the surgery, "do you need a stronger pain medication?"

Reid's pale face contorted, as he tried to process what the nurse had just said. Reid's slow reactions, and inability to process information as fast as he had before, was beginning to bother him. Much later he managed to whisper the word, "lights", in a raspy voice.

"Oh! I'm so sorry, I didn't stop to think that they might hurt your eyes." The nurse said, sincerely apologizing, while she dimmed the lights.

Reid sighed as the lights were dimmed, his eyes stopped hurting and adjusted to the new darker lighting. Reid was once again drifting off to a place between being awake and being asleep, but was kept awake by the voice of the nurse.

"I'm going to send your friends up in a few minutes, OK?" she didn't expect an answer, but felt that the young man had some right to be informed, even if the sedatives hadn't fully worn off yet.

Reid disregarded the last comment made by the woman, and once again found himself in the twilight zone.

* * *

Dr. Albirdge was now standing in front of the FBI agents, with a grim expression plastered across his face, but finally he found the courage and spoke up.

"There is nothing more we can do for your friend, I truly express my deepest sympathy. I will have you know, that I am deeply upset about the way this day has played out," Albridge let out a depressing sigh, "I must be truthful with you now, I hadn't expected Dr. Reid to survive the first time we operated on him, but now his body has to much stress, and I highly doubt he will last more then a few days. Once again, I express my condolences for your friend."

Morgan suddenly pushed himself off the wall and spoke up.

"You can't express condolences. Reid isn't dead. Condolences are expressed for the deceased."

Dr. Albriged had no comment to the rude remark Morgan had just stated, he was not offended.

After a few more moments of awkward silence, Hotch spoke next.

"When can we see him?"

"As soon as you are ready." Albridge replied.

Hotch nodded, stood up and made his way to the door that was held open by Dr. Albridge, the others followed.

They all made their way to the elevator, and once they were inside Dr. Albridge began to speak again.

"I feel the need to inform you that, Dr. Reid is sedated. He can hear, and understand you, it just takes him a few more moments now. Also, because of all his blood loss, and numerous injuries, he is the living definition of a person looking like death."

JJ stared at Albridge and frowned at his word choice, then proceeded to cross her arms.

"I apologize for my word choice, I meant to say that Dr. Reid's skin tone is ashen."

The elevator dinged, and the doors crept open, they all exited onto the third floor, then followed Dr. Albridge down the hall to room 106.

"Also, I must advise you to try to avoid upsetting Dr. Reid at all costs. He is weak enough as it is."

With all of that being said Albridge opened the door, and led the team into the dim room.

Everyone filed into the room, and stood near the hospital bed. Nobody moved, they were all in shock of what they were seeing. Reid looked like a Holocaust survivor, that somehow lived through a bombing. The parts of his body that were visible, were just skin stretched over bones. His wavy hair stuck to the sweat that was on his pale, feverish skin. His eyes were slightly opened, but had a glassy stare that was angled toward the ceiling. There seemed to be a countless number of cords, wires and IV's connected to Reid's body. He looked fragile and breakable, like a sick porcelain doll.

Morgan was the first to move, he sat down next to Reid in a chair, and grabbed ahold of one of his hands, ignoring the fact that all the others winced once the two hands made contact; they had all almost expected the bones in Reid's hand to shatter. Everyone breathed a sigh of relief onve they realized that Reid's hand was still in one piece, and sat down in various places throughout the room.

After a few minutes of dead silence, Reid whispered a few words.

"Morgan, stop staring at me like that, it-"

"Seriously kid? Here you are practically dying in a hospital bed, and all you can say is that I need to stop staring at you?" Morgan said with a laugh, relived that Reid could speak at all.

"-freaks me out." Reid said, trailing off with a sigh, "-not dying, you'd be surprised what the human body can endure."

"Whatever man," Morgan said shaking his head, amazed that Reid had the energy to utter a few words of protest.

Reid was silent for a few minutes, and the team began to think he had fallen asleep, but out of nowhere Reid's eyes shot open, and he turned he head toward Hotch.

"Hotch, what happened to R-", Reid began.

"Reid relax Ryan's dead."

"He killed Noah, and Abigail," Reid said avoiding direct eye contact with Hotch.

"Reid, don't you dare think that any of that is your fault!" Hotch said sternly, raising his voice to get his point across. Reid flinched at the words, he knew Hotch was right, but the guilt would always be there.

When Hotch saw Reid jump when he shouted, and instantly softened his tone, and walked over the the side of the hospital bed.

"What I mean is, don't let your mind trick you onto thinking that there is something you could have done to prevent those deaths," Hotch rephrased.

Reid stared back up at the ceiling again. For some reason, the presence of the team brought the cruel realization of the current events rushing into Reid's drugged brain.

Reid sighed again, "Is there something I could have done to prevent mine?" he whispered, suddenly feeling his remaining strength begin wain.

"What the hell man!" Morgan shouted, "don't talk like that!"

Reid's eyes were closed now, and he was finding it harder and harder to take a breath.

Reid coughed, "-not everyone gets to choose when they die Morgan."

"What about what you said earlier?" JJ desperately asked; tears rimming her eyes, "You said you weren't dying," JJ said frantically.

"I had to accept it some time, JJ," Reid whispered, his words becoming slurred, and voice loosing its normal clarity.

Reid breathed deeply again, then spoke in a strained voice.

"Ryan said I'd die alone, at least he was wrong about that." Reid whispered with a small genuine smile.

No one had words to reply to Reid's last comment, the team just stood in shock at how happy Reid was to proclaim his statement.

Moments later the heart monitor's monotone beeps became more out of rhythm than earlier, then flat lined.

Everyone stared wide-eyed at their young colleague, and began to scramble around trying to keep out of the way of the doctors and nurses.

One of the nurses managed to corral the BAU team members out into the hall, and tried to reassure them that the doctors and nurses were doing everything in their power to save Reid.

The words brought no comfort, everyone mind was in a state of panic, and their faces reviled every emotion.

JJ who was leaning against the wall, slid to the floor sobbing. She didn't want to have to except living a life without one of her best friends. Reid was so sweet, and didn't deserve half the things that always seemed to happen to him.

Morgan continuously punched the wall that was in front of him, not caring about the possibility of permanent damage to his hand. Tears blinded him, and he blocked everyone out. Reid couldn't die, he was too young, like a little brother. Morgan didn't know what he was going to do if the doctors couldn't resuscitate Reid, and make his heart beet again.

Hotch became anxious, he stood near the door and his hands began to shake. He had always taken advantage of Reid because he was so smart, and had admitted to himself that Reid's constant rambling could get annoying, but he never wanted anything bad to happen to him.

Prentiss was standing in the middle of the hallway, with her arms wrapped tight around her, as if they could hold her composure together. Even Prentiss knew that she couldn't control her emotions in this time, she hadn't known Reid for as long as the others, but she was still fond of him.

Things were happening in slow motion, as the team had to wait in the hall. All they could hear were shouts from the doctor, talking to the nurses in medical terms, saying things only Reid would have been able to understand. The doctor's voice was a small comfort, because the team knew that silence was bad, as long as the doctor was talking to his team, Reid was alive.

The minutes passed like hours, but finally Dr. Albridge emerged from the room, and once again just like before in the waiting room all the heads whipped around, and waited for him to speak the words that would either bring them comfort or pain.

"I don't know how but we managed to revive your friend. I credit him as being a strong fighter, with an intense will to live," Albridge said, smiling as he noticed his words had set it, and brought extreme waves of relief to the BAU team members.

"You may go in and see him, but be gentle and quiet," Albridge added.

The profilers practically ran into the room, resuming their former positions around the hospital bed. Reid was breathing again, but he appeared to be asleep, until he groaned when JJ moved some strands of hair away from his closed eyes.

They all smiled with relief, as reality sunk in.

JJ then sopke to Reid, not caring if he could comprehend her words.

"Ryan was wrong Reid, you're not going to die at all."

Everyone knew recovery was going to be tough for Reid, but he was alive, and that's all the could've have asked for.

* * *

**Thank you so much for your reviews! and thank you for putting my family in your prayers, that seriously made my day :) haha! lolyncut I have a shout out for you. I'm not even kidding I'm pretty sure that you are the reason that I kept Reid alive in this story. I took so long updating today, because I had written an ending where he died, then I read all the nice comments from numerous people, and was like "you know what that person's right don't kill Reid, he's your favorite character!" But anyway, thank you to everyone that read my story, and thanks to everyone that reviewed! And just a reminder from the top potrion, please review this last chapter :D**

**Oh yeah, and I'm not a doctor, so if i got some stuff wrong during the medical scenes (which I'm almost positive I did), then yeah that's why :P**


	12. Chapter 13 Epilogue

**Hey there yall! im really sorry that i took so long to update this ending chapter. It's been bugging me forever, that i just left my story unfinished! So im back to finish it up; im starting out some weeks later from where i left off. I really hope that this last chapter was worth the EXTREMELY long wait. Oh and as always i DO want to hear what yall think, so feel free to review! I hope yall enjoy this last chapter, and THANKS for reading and staying with my story this whole time :D oh yeah im really sorry if i misspelled some words in my story. i have no idea why, but the spell checker isn't working :( **

**Disclaimer: I don't own Criminal Minds, or any of their characters.**

Chapter 13- Epilogue

JJ had fallen asleep in the plastic chair that she had pulled beside Reid's hospital bed. He'd been having restless nights for the past few days; nightmares of Ryan had consumed his subconscious. Reid would wake up screaming, completely convinced that his nightmare was reality. Every time Reid would wake up in a state of panic one of his friends was there to console him; they all had taken turns spending the night at the hospital.

Around two in the morning, Reid's tossing and turning turned violent. JJ was awakened by the beeping on the heart monitor; it was obvious Reid was terrified. JJ acted quickly, gabbing Reid's shoulders trying to hold him still as she spoke words of comfort. Seeing her college like this brought tears to her eyes, Reid was abnormally pale and sweaty; she wouldn't wish this kind of anxiety on anyone, espically one of her good friends.

"Reid, Reid come on wake up. It's just a dream." JJ said in a soothing voice.

Reid winced at JJ's touch, but he slowly stopped thrashing around and his heart rate fell back to normal, as he began to wake up. Reid took a deep breath before he spoke.

"Thanks JJ," Just by the sound of Reid's voice one could tell he was becoming sleep deprived.

"No problem. You were having another nightmare, I hate seeing you suffer like that."

Reid opened his hazel eyes and turned, so he could see JJ better. She wore a frown of genuine concern, and looked as if she hadn't slept well in days.

"JJ, I'm going to be released in a few days, you need to go back to your hotel and get a real night's sleep."

"I'm only worried about you," JJ answered in return, "I'd be here for anyone in our team."

Reid began to sit up in his bed, he winced at the few aches and pains that were still present, but contiuned to move to a seated position.

"JJ, Noah and his mother are dead arn't they?" Reid asked. During his entire stay at St. Luke's Hospital, Reid had either been asleep, willingly, or he was sedated. Either way he had not been able to talk to his collegues, to find out any new/ important information.

JJ was caught off guard by Reid's question, she wasn't prepared to tell Reid what had happened, honsetly she didn't think that he would ask her for that answer. JJ took a deep breath to ready herself and gather her thoughts, but was cut off by Reid's voice.

"I already know the answer."

* * *

FUNERAL_

The wind blew slightly, and the clouds were gray and heavy with snow. The BAU team was attending the funeral of 6 year old Noah and his mother. There were few people that had attended, but from the few a little boy stood out the the team. He stood in front of his mother, not crying but his face solemn. His hair was light brown, and was need in a trim because his bangs fell infront of his brown eyes. He was wearing a black double breasted jacket, with _Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle_ gloves and hat. The boy's mother on the other hand had all her emotions smeared across her face. Her eyes were red and tears cut paths down her cheeks, and her whole body shook from the cold and her sorrow.

"She must have been close to Noah or Abigail," Prentiss said sympathetically.

"Oh yes," and elderly woman cut in, "Caroline Mastif was Abigail's older sister, and they were as close. Their son's were good friends too," the woman took a breath and sighed, "I guess Micheal is too young to emotionally, or mentally comprehend the death yet, though. The poor dear he's only seven years old."

The elderly woman was dressed in a heavy, black trench coat. She also had on a gray scarf and gloves. The woman paused to pull four red roses out of her bag; the act of reaching for the flowers took some time because of all of the folds of winter clothes she had to navigate around.

"Here, you all are welcome to place a rose on the caskets, you are the FBI agents I'm assuming; My name is Doris by the way,"she added while shaking the teams' hands, and handing them all a red rose.

Just as Doris had finished introducing herself, a priest, dressed in a black cope walked up to the small platform where the two caskets were positioned. They both had a chestnut coloring to wood, and were identical in appearence except for the size.

"Today we are in mourning, but we need to move past the sadness and sorrow that is heavy in our hearts. Today we need to celebrate the life that these two wonderful people lived, the Priest stated."

After the Priest had blessed the caskets, and wished an peaceful eternal rest to both of the deceased, he turned to Caroline and Micheal, and motioned for them to come foreword.

Caroline wiped her eyes, and stood to walk up to the podium; Micheal followed behind her like a loyal dog.

Caroline took a deep breath to calm herself as best as she could, but her shaking hands were quite noticeable to the few people in the crowd.

"Thank you to everyone that came today," Caroline forced out. "Abigail was my little sister, and why this happened to her is still a mystery to me... We were from a normal family, we had fights over stupid things like sisters do; To see my _little _sister buried kills me, an I-"

The tears that had been only a few in the beginning of her speech, were now streaming from her eyes. Micheal stepped up to his mom as she began to shake again, he hugged her and stepped up to the podium.

"Aunt Abigail was one of the best people that I know," Michael proclaimed, as he looked back to his mother. "Every time I went to her house she'd be playing music and singing along with it, while Me and Noah played spy's with our NERF guns. Aunt Abigail was always smiling and she didn't yell at anyone." Micheal took a breath then continued. "Noah was one of my best friends, I'm gonna miss him a lot."

Everyone expected Micheal to continue his speech, but he just stepped down from the small platform, and walked slowly to his seat next to where his mother stood crying.

The Priest then stood and announced that the roses were to be placed on caskets, starting with the immediate family members.

"Yet what we suffer now is nothing compared to the glory He will give us later- Romans 8:18," stated the Priest as people began to stand and move toward the caskets.

Micheal followed his mother over to the caskets and placed a white rose on top, next to the roses that his mother placed on the boxes.

"Mom, you know that Noah and Aunt Abigail are going to heaven, don't you?" Micheal asked, as they stood to the side while the guests places their roses on the caskets and stated their condolences.

Caroline wiped a tear away then reached to hold Michael's hand,"I do know that sweety."

"But you're still crying." Micheal stated in a matter-of-fact tone.

Before Caroline could answer, Doris walked up to them, with three official looking people.

"Caroline, I'm extremely sorry for your loss. I thought you would like to meet the FBI agents that worked the case," Doris added with a small sympathetic smile.

"Hello Mrs. Mastif, I'm Agent Hotchner. This is Agent's Prentiss and Morgan." They all shook Caroline and Micheal's hands.

"We are all very sorry for this devastating tragedy," Prentiss added.

"I used to be angry with you all and sometimes I still am," Caroline said while the tears began to fall again, "but none of this was your faults. Thank you for your help."

"You got the guy right?" Michael asked quickly, cutting off any replies to his mother's conversation. He had been sitting in one of the lawn chairs set under the tent, quietly waiting for his mother to finish talking.

"Yeah Buddy, we got him," Morgan answered smiling toward Michael.

After the funeral ended the clouds finally opened up and dropped dropped down heavy loads of snow, forcing the guests to head home.

* * *

HOSPITAL_

JJ had finally given in to Reid's constant nagging to go get some sleep at her hotel, and now Morgan was visiting Reid. Reid was going to be released from St. Luke's in two days. He made sure to tell his friends that he was going stir-crazy from having to stay in his bed all day. The team was happy to hear that he was becoming bored, it was a sign that he was starting to feel better, and heal faster.

Morgan was sitting in a hospital chair, next to Reid's bed while he shuffeled some cards.

"Ready to loose?" Morgan asked with a smirk on his face.

Reid paused and then shook his head, "Not possible."

"Because some of us are cheaters... Reid," Morgan said. When Reid didn't throw an insult back at him he looked up from the cards he was shuffling. "What's going on inside of that big brain of yours pretty boy?"

"Morgan, Noah and his mom they're dead." Reid said in a tone that Morgan couldn't decipher as a question or a statement.

"Reid," Morgan began, "Before we go into this conversation, I need to know that you to understand that what happened to Abigail and Noah was not your fault in any way."

Reid sighed,"I know that they're dead, and that its not my fault, it's just I'm always catching myself wondering if there was something that I could have done to help them. There's always something that can stop a person, or momentously delay, their actions; I couldn't find one strong enough to stop Ryan from...killing them."

"Don't even go there. Reid you need to get this into that big brain of yours," Morgan sighed getting slightly frustrated, "don't over think your actions. You beat Ryan and came out of all this alive, come on man is that so hard to accept?"

"I feel like I'm living at the expense of other people's lives, and I can't being to understand how to live with that. Ryan left me on the ground, in the snow, long enough to kill his father, and long enough for help to come." Reid paused, "I can still hear the way Ryan's father was pleading with him, and Ryan just wouldn't stop beating him with the rocks," Reid shivered and then continued. "I can hear Noah crying while his mom is being beaten, I can still see their terrified faces."

"It's going to take time for those images and sounds to fade away, if they go away at all," Morgan stated, "You did everything possible to keep those people safe, Reid, and sometimes that's just not enough. But there is nothing wrong with being alive today."

"I know that everything that you're telling me is true, I've told it all to myself so many times," Reid replied with a sigh.

There was a moment of silence, that was broken by Reid's voice again. "So what game are we going to play?"

"How's Speed sound?" Morgan asked, he knew that their conversation was over for the moment, Reid would talk about it all agian when he was ready.

"You're going down," Reid replied with a smile.

* * *

**That's the end yall! THANK YOU to everyone that read and reviewed! you have no idea how helpful it was to read what yall liked and disliked :D and it was encouraging to write more when i got great reviews! i've had a lot of fun writing this story and thanks for making me want to finish my story :D i really hope yall enjoyed this last chapter, so as always dont hesitate to leave a review for me! THANKS AGAIN!**

**- JOBAN/ZC**


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